OSL chronologies for Aeolian activity in the context of lake-level fluctuations, drainage reorganization and glacial retreat, North-Central Minnesota

Dunes and stratified eolian sedi-ments are a significant component of the postglacial landscape across the mid-continent. During the 1970s, a benchmark study in north-central Minne-sota inferred a period of eolian activity 8,000 ? 5,000 years ago (i.e., the Altithermal Hypsithermal periods), based upon radiocarbon dates on charcoal and organic material preserved within paleosols developed in dunes [1]. We revisited a classic local-ity at Lake Winnibigoshish (N 47?27'; W 94?12'), and sample other dune-forms to hypothesis-test whether eolian landform development occurred dur-ing the middle Holocene. Optical luminescence techniques can better resolve Minnesota's eolian chronologies by directly dating the emplacement of bed forms; sediments are typically oxidized and lack preserved organic materials suitable for 14C dating.