Late Holocene Beach-Ridge Sedimentation in Keppel Bay, Australia

Beach ridges at Keppel Bay preserve a sediment record trapping an estimated 79% of the Fitzroy River's long-term average annual bedload. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages indicate periods of rapid coastal progradation approximately 1500, 1000, 450, and 230 years before present. The dataset documents a change in sediment provenance linked to post-clearing erosion and a reduction in accumulation rates since around 1000 yr BP.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing late Holocene flood frequency and cyclone history based on ridge formation periods.
• Modeling sediment budget and coastal progradation rates using the estimated sediment mass stored in the strandplain.
• Tracing changes in catchment land use and erosion through shifts in trace-element composition of ridges.
• Correlating coastal sedimentation phases with regional climate records from eastern Australia.

Strengths

• Provides OSL ages for six distinct beach-ridge accretional units, offering a chronological framework.
• Includes a quantitative estimate that the strandplain traps the equivalent of 79% of the Fitzroy River's estimated long-term average annual bedload.
• Documents a clear shift in sediment provenance linked to historical land-clearing, adding an anthropogenic dimension.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and data formats are not provided in the source metadata.
• The dataset's license and direct author information are not specified.
• Platform entries show conflicting 'last updated' dates (2026-06-23 and 2026-04-04), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, likely associated with a scientific journal publication.

Collection Method

Field-based sedimentological and geomorphological analysis combined with Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating.

Time Range

From the middle Holocene to the modern historical period, with specific OSL ages <100 to ~1500 years BP.

Freshness

Last updated on data.gov.au: 2026-06-23.

Geography

Keppel Bay, central Queensland, Australia, specifically the beach-ridge strandplain fed by the Fitzroy River catchment.