Mid Pleistocene arid shift in southern Australia, dated by magnetostratigraphy

Abstract

In coastal sections at Hallett Cove and Sellicks Beach, south of Adelaide, and at Redbanks section on Kangaroo Island, the Brunhes/Matuyama polarity transition (780 ka) is identified in the strongly oxide-mottled Ochre Cove Formation. At all 3 sections, the Ochre Cove Formation is overlain by a calcareous grey-green aeolian clay, called Ngaltinga Clay, which in turn is overlain by calcareous sediments of the Taringa and Christies Beach Formations. The marked change from an oxide-dominated weathering regime to a carbonate-dominated weathering regime, estimated to have occurred at about 500–600 ka, is interpreted as a major arid shift in regional climates. Similar arid shifts are known from Lake Bungunnia in the Murray Basin and Lake Lefroy in southern Western Australia, where changes from lacustrine clays to evaporites and dune sediments are estimated to have occurred between 400 and 700 ka, and about 500 ka, respectively. An increase in aeolian dust accession in south-eastern Australia, consistent with increased aridity in the interior source area, occurred after 780 ka, and was probably coeval with increased dust input to Tasman Sea sediments since 350 ka.

Between 600 and 900 ka, oxygen isotope fluctuations in deep-sea cores showed a pronounced change in frequency, from a 40 ka (obliquity dominated) to a 100 ka (eccentricity dominated) pattern. At the same time, glacial-interglacial amplitudes increased, with a marked enrichment of glacial d¹⁸O values consistent with larger continental based ice-sheets. Colder global temperatures, and lower sea levels during glacials, may have played a part in the mid Pleistocene arid shift recorded in southern Australia. Associated variations in the strength of the warm Leeuwin Current may also have affected regional rainfall patterns in southern Australia.