LATE PLEISTOCENE DUNE CHRONOLOGY - NEAR-COASTAL NEW-SOUTH-WALES AND EASTERN AUSTRALIA

Late Pleistocene aeolian activity is manifested stratigraphically and geomorphically along the New South Wales coastline in six different wa ys: as barrier dunes, cliff-top and headland dunes, sand sheets on slo pes, reworked barrier features, onlapping coastal sand bodies and 'dus tings'. The majority of activity took place over the last 40 ka BP Par adoxically the present interglacial is characterised by extensive coas tal dune fields while the last interglacial is not, a fact that cannot be solely attributed to the destruction of older deposits through tim e. The similarity in the degree of dune building between the Holocene and the last glacial under very different climatic regimes may be indi cative of the interaction of a multitude of climatic factors. The effe cts of aboriginal occupation and burning also cannot be excluded. Aust ralia-wide, aeolian activity has preferentially lingered over the nort heastern and southern parts of the continent during the last glacial. In the north, this lingering reflects the progressive drying out of no rthern Australia with the demise of trade wind, cyclone and monsoon ac tivities. In the southeast, it reflects the enhancement of stable, ext ensive, high pressure cells leading to the displacement of cold fronts and strong winds, either southward towards Tasmania: or offshore into the Tasman Sea.