Keppel Bay Beach-Ridge Sedimentation Influenced by Climate and Land Use

Late Holocene to modern beach-ridge deposits at Keppel Bay, central Queensland, Australia, preserve a record of sediment accumulation. The dataset includes optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages indicating periods of rapid progradation approximately 1500, 1000, 450, and 230 years before present. It was contributed by the Australian Ocean Data Network and last updated on 2026-06-27.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal progradation rates based on OSL-dated beach-ridge sequences.
• Analyzing the relationship between cyclone-induced floods and sediment supply to the coast.
• Investigating changes in sediment provenance linked to catchment vegetation clearing.
• Estimating long-term sediment budgets by comparing beach-ridge sediment mass to river bedload.

Strengths

• Includes OSL ages pinpointing four distinct periods of rapid coastal progradation.
• Provides a quantitative estimate that the beach-ridge strandplain traps the equivalent of 79% of the Fitzroy River's estimated long-term average annual bedload.
• Links sediment composition changes to specific catchment land use changes.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified as the last update is dated 2026-06-27.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Field study and analysis of beach-ridge deposits using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and sediment composition analysis.

Time Range

Late Holocene to modern, with specific OSL ages from approximately 1500, 1000, 450, and 230 years BP to less than 100 years BP.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 21:35:00.883547

Geography

Keppel Bay, central Queensland, Australia, focusing on the Fitzroy River catchment and coastal strandplain.