OSL dating of an inland dune along the lower River Scheldt near Aard (East Flanders, Belgium)

Abstract

The chronostratigraphic position of aeolian dunes in East Flanders (Belgium) has been under debate for decades. Until now, the only available age information consisted of a limited number of radiocarbon dates, which provided indirect sediment deposition chronologies. This paper reports on the first direct determination, by quartz-based single-aliquot optically stimulated luminescence dating, of the time that dune sands were deposited along the Lower River Scheldt in Belgium. The sediments are dated at 12.0±0.9 ka (n = 5), which confirms that the time of inland dune formation in East Flanders dates from the Younger Dryas period and should not be constrained to the Holocene.

Source-bordering aeolian dune formation along the Scheldt River (southern Netherlands – northern Belgium) was caused by Younger Dryas cooling, high river gradient and southwesterly summer winds

“…The age of river dune formation along the Scheldt River during the second half of the Younger Dryas is in agreement with previously reported findings upstream in the Scheldt valley (Bogemans & Vandenberghe, 2011) and in the Meuse and Rhine valleys (De Jong & Zagwijn, 1977a,b;Verbraeck, 1983;Teunissen, 1990;Bohncke et al, 1993;Janssens et al, 2012). In the Meuse valley, Bohncke et al (1993) dated the transition from peat to river dune deposits to occur after 10,940 ± 60 BP (c.13.1-12.8 ka cal BP) (GrN-13379), based on a date of the top of the peat layer and associated decrease in pine pollen in Bosscherheide I (diagram #189 in Hoek, 1997b).…”

“…1). The west-east Scheldt valley between Ghent and Dendermonde shows large-scale meander morphology that was assigned to the Late Glacial (Kiden, 1991(Kiden, , 2006Bogemans & Vandenberghe, 2011;Bogemans et al, 2012;Meylemans et al, 2013;Crombé, 2020). Braided systems, associated with the Younger Dryas cooling, are not reported here and probably the Scheldt was a meandering river in that reach during the Younger Dryas, comparable to the Niers and Roer river systems (Kasse et al, 2005(Kasse et al, , 2017Woolderink et al, 2019).…”

Lateglacial and Holocene fluvial dynamics in the Lower Scheldt basin (N-Belgium) and their impact on the presence, detection and preservation potential of the archaeological record

“…Exposed point bar deposits from within the alluvial area most probably constituted the source areas for this activity (e.g. discussion and overview in Bogemans and Vandenberghe, 2011;Bogemans et al, 2012). The radiocarbon dating results expose a gap between the end of the Younger Dryas period and the second part of the Preboreal.…”

A complete Late Weichselian and Holocene record of aeolian coversands, drift sands and soils forced by climate change and human impact, Ossendrecht, the Netherlands

“…Luminescence dating enables direct dating of aeolian sediments and phases of landscape instability. OSL dating of quartz has provided reliable ages for Late Weichselian and Holocene aeolian sediments in the northwest European lowlands (Stokes, 1991;Bateman, 1995Bateman, , 1998Janotta et al, 1997;Radtke & Janotta, 1998;Bateman and Van Huissteden 1999;Bateman et al, 2000;Vandenberghe et al, 2004Vandenberghe et al, , 2009Vandenberghe et al, , 2013Kasse et al, 2007Kasse et al, , 2018Wallinga et al, 2007;Buylaert et al, 2009;Derese et al, 2009Derese et al, , 2010aDerese et al, , 2010bDerese et al, , 2012Van Mourik et al, 2010;Bogemans & Vandenberghe, 2011;Sevink et al, 2013Sevink et al, , 2018Beerten et al, 2014).…”