Estimating the time since final stabilization of a perched dune field along lake superior

The Nodaway dune field is perched along Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. Th is study uses absolute and relative-age dating methods to test the hypothes is that the dune field finally stabilized after the Nipissing high stand, a bout 4,000 years ago. Surface soils on snouts of all dunes are moderately d eveloped Spodosols, indicating that dunes stabilized within a few hundred y ears of each other. One thermoluminescence date provided an age of 8 ka fro m soil parent material, but is probably overestimated due to residual therm oluminescence. Subsequent optical stimulated luminescence and accelerator m ass spectrometry age estimates indicate that the most recent accumulation o f sand occurred between -3.7 and 3.0 ka. This interval suggests one of thre e possibilities: 1) that the dune field was reactivated during the Algoma h igh stand and then stabilized; 2) that the dune field stabilized gradually probably as sand supply diminished after the Nipissing high stand; and 3) t hat a combination of these two processes occurred.