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Geochronological Framework for the Age of the Coastal Barrier Successions of the Coorong Coastal Plain

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Quaternary History of the Coorong Coastal Plain, Southern Australia

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Abstract

The coastal barrier landforms and sedimentary successions of the Pleistocene Bridgewater Formation represent a natural laboratory to evaluate critically and refine methodological aspects of a range of Quaternary geochronological methods. The age of many of the barriers of the Coorong Coastal Plain is now securely established within a framework of radiocarbon, luminescence (thermoluminescence—TL and optically stimulated luminescence —OSL), amino acid racemization (AAR), electron spin resonance (ESR), uranium-series disequilibrium and magnetostratigraphy, principally in terms of the position of the Brunhes—Matuyama geomagnetic polarity reversal between the East and West Naracoorte Ranges (781 ka). This geochronological framework is broadly in accord with oxygen isotope records of global ice-volume fluctuations and the inferred timing of sea-level highstands from Middle Pleistocene time to the present. The long sedimentary record of interglacial sea-level highstand events provides a unique opportunity to further develop a range of geochronological methods, which has been the focus of many investigations within the region.

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  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Colin V. Murray-Wallace

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Murray-Wallace, C.V. (2018). Geochronological Framework for the Age of the Coastal Barrier Successions of the Coorong Coastal Plain. In: Quaternary History of the Coorong Coastal Plain, Southern Australia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89342-6_6

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