Origin and late pleistocene to early holocene activity of albany pine bush dune field, New York, northeastern USA

Abstract

Well-preserved stabilized parabolic dunes occur in the Albany Pine Bush (APB), New York State, northeastern USA. This area was glaciated by the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and subsequently inundated by glacial Lake Albany until ∼ 13.0 ka. Glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine deposits provided source sediments for dunes, which migrated towards the east-southeast. This integrated study addresses the morphology, grain mineralogy and micromorphology, stratigraphy, and chronology of a stabilized parabolic dune in the APB. The dune was active from 12.5–11.0 ka and was formed from locally-derived fluvial sediments that are slightly older (ca. 13.3–12.5 ka). The dune sands and underlying fluvial sediments are both texturally and mineralogically similar. Micromorphological analyses indicate that the dune quartz grains exhibit few characteristics typical of eolian transport, but inherently retain features of subaqueous origin. Consequently, both the distance and the duration of eolian transport during dune construction were very short. Dune stabilization coincided with the end of the Younger Dryas coeval with a forest transition from spruce (Picea) to pine-oak (Pinus-Quercus). The well-preserved morphology of dunes, and an absence of paleosols and stratigraphic truncations, all support dune stability throughout the Holocene, even with recurrent wildfire to which the local ecology has adapted.