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

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. NR - 65 PU - SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN PI - BERLIN PA - HEIDELBERGER PLATZ 3, D-14197 BERLIN, GERMANY