Quartz luminescence dating of a centennial coastal foredune from Changle in Fujian Province, East China Sea

The Aeolian foredunes in the southern coast of China are records of paleoenvironmental changes for marine monsoon region. Intensive studies have been conducted to decipher their formation and paleoenvironmental implications in which chronology played a key role. However, robust dating results are still limited due to the scarcity of organic materials for radiocarbon and the limited application of quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Here, we collected 11 OSL samples and 140 grainsize samples from the Changle section with a thickness of 7 m from a coastal foredune in Fujian Province. The dating results indicated that the section spanned a time period from 0.32±0.04 ka (depth of 700 cm) to 0.18±0.02 ka (depth of 80 cm), after removal of age outliers. According to the OSL ages and sedimentary structural characteristics, the section could be divided into two stages, i.e. the stable accumulation period with an age range of 0.32–0.18 ka from the depth of 700 cm to 80 cm, and the activation period above the depth of 60 cm, at which the dune erosion was retained. The foredune development due to increased transport of dune sediment at the top part of the section was the result of recent human activities. Inside the foredunes, normal cross-bedding was generated by seasonal changes in wind direction. Seasonal changes in the wind direction were the primary cause for various sedimentary bedding within the dunes.