
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gatehouse, Robyn D. 
A1  - Williams, I. S. 
A1  - Pillans, B. J. 
T1  - Fingerprinting windblown dust in south-eastern Australian soils by uranium-lead dating of detrital zircon
JF  - Soil Research
JO  - Soil Res.
Y1  - 2001
VL  - 39
IS  - 1
SP  - 7
EP  - 12
KW  - aeolian dust, dust deposition, dust provenance.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/SR99078 
N2  - The U-Pb ages of fine-grained zircon separated from 2 dust-dominated soils in the eastern highlands of south-eastern Australia and measured by ion microprobe (SHRIMP) revealed a characteristic age &#8216;fingerprint&#8217; from which the source of the dust has been determined and by which it will be possible to assess the contribution of dust to other soil profiles. The 2 soils are dominated by zircon 400&#8211;600 and 1000&#8211;1200 Ma old, derived from Palaeozoic granites and sediments of the Lachlan Fold Belt, but also contain significant components 100&#8211;300 Ma old, characteristic of igneous rocks in the New England Fold Belt in northern New South Wales and Queensland. This pattern closely matches that of sediments of the Murray-Darling Basin, especially the Mallee dunefield, suggesting that weathering of rocks in the eastern highlands has contributed large quantities of sediment to the arid and semi-arid inland basins via internally draining rivers of the present and past Murray&#8211;Darling River systems, where it has formed a major source of dust subsequently blown eastwards and deposited in the highland soils of eastern Australia. 
ER  -

