Age and origin of upland sand-sheets in south-eastern USA

Thick sand mantles envelop large parts of the landscape of central Texas and Louisiana underlain by Tertiary fluvial-deltaic deposits. Likewise the sediments of Central Florida can be traced to early Quaternary barrier dunes. This research is investigating fundamental processes of post-depositional disturbance of sedimentary sequences with a view to differentiating between in situ weathering and mixing processes from intact sediments which contain a palaeoclimate signal. This work is being carried out in collaboration with a number of Texan geoarchaeologists and funded from contract geoarchaeological work and a NERC studentship. At present two reports and four journal articles have been published from this work.

Key outcomes

  • The potential for the sediment record to be disturbed by bioturbation is great but technological advances in single grain luminescence combined with detailed particle size analysis can provide key information on sediment and site integrity
  • The research is elucidating regional landscape dynamics during the known climatic fluctuations of the past 25,000 years
  • Information on potential buried archaeological site integrity in the region.

Bioturbation
Active bioturbation of the sedimentary record by ants (left) and gophers (right)


Recent papers

  • Bateman, M.D., Boulter, C.H., Carr, A.S., Frederick, C.D., Peter, D. and Wilder, M. (2006). Preserving the palaeoenvironmental record in Drylands: Bioturbation and its significance for luminescence derived chronologies. Sediment Geology (in press).
    pdf icon Author's pre-publication version (open access)
  • Bateman, M.D., Frederick, C.D., Jaiswal, M.K. and Singhvi, A.K. (2003). Investigations into the potential effects of pedoturbation on luminescence dating. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, 1169-1176.
    pdf icon SHERPA Archive version (open access)
    doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00019-2
  • Frederick, C.D., Bateman, M.D. and Rogers, R. (2002). Evidence for Eolian Deposition in the Sandy Uplands of East Texas and the Implications for Archaeological Site Integrity. Geoarchaeology, 17, 191-217.
    doi:10.1002/gea.10010
Mark Bateman