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Aeolian Sand Invasion: Georadar Signatures from the Curonian Spit Dunes, Lithuania

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Sand and Gravel Spits

Part of the book series: Coastal Research Library ((COASTALRL,volume 12))

Abstract

Aeolian landforms may occupy large portions of coastal spits and often consist of multiple generations defined by periods of stability and reactivation. Where earlier phases of aeolian activity are masked by subsequent deposition, continuous high-resolution (200 MHz) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) images are used to reconstruct their dynamic history. Subsurface profiles from younger segments of the Great Dune Ridge massif along the northern Curonian Spit, Lithuania reveal several phases of dune migration, which generally correspond to climatic deterioration during the Little Ice Age. Exacerbated by regional deforestation, 15–30-m-high dunes have invaded coastal settlements, causing their repeated relocation. Along the study transect, an optical age of the younger slipface strata is consistent with the record of village entombment by drifting sand by AD 1797. This study demonstrates that in the absence of mappable paleosols, a combination of geophysical, luminescence-dating, and documentary databases offers a means of reconstructing the history of human-landscape interaction, with potential implications for the future stewardship of natural and cultural resources along spit coastlines.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Ocean and Climate Change Institute (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and the National Geographic Society. We thank Anton Symonovich, Aldona Damušytė, Nijole Strakauskaite, Nikita Dobrotin, Dainius Michelevičius, and the Geological Survey of Lithuania for field support, the Curonian Spit National Park for access to study sites, and Ronald Goble for optical dating analyses. Daniel Wiese helped with depth determination of selected GPR targets and Heather Rychlak assisted with manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Ilya V. Buynevich

  2. Klaipėda University, Klaipėda, Lithuania

    Albertas Bitinas

  3. Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Donatas Pupienis

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  1. Ilya V. Buynevich
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  2. Albertas Bitinas
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  3. Donatas Pupienis
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Correspondence to Ilya V. Buynevich .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Giovanni Randazzo

  2. Environmental Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom

    Derek W.T. Jackson

  3. Environmental Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom

    J. Andrew G. Cooper

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Buynevich, I.V., Bitinas, A., Pupienis, D. (2015). Aeolian Sand Invasion: Georadar Signatures from the Curonian Spit Dunes, Lithuania. In: Randazzo, G., Jackson, D., Cooper, J. (eds) Sand and Gravel Spits. Coastal Research Library, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13716-2_5

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