近日，美国沙漠研究所Amanda Keen-Zebert团队报道了沉积记录匮乏：从沙特鲁卜哈利沙漠流动沙山的晚更新世动力学看其沉积物的有限保存。这一研究成果于2025年11月20日发表在《地质学》杂志上。

对鲁卜哈利沙漠东部160米高巨型新月形沙丘背风面沉积的丘间萨布哈沉积物和交错层理进行的光释光测年，为沙丘动力学及其保存潜力提供了重要信息。光释光年龄测定显示，在晚更新世和全新世期间沙丘堆积速率存在显著变化。沉积构造表明巨型沙丘迁移是强劲的西北风"沙玛尔"作用的结果。

在晚更新世和早全新世的同一时期，阿联酋东北部的线性沙丘也快速堆积，表明16-9千年这一时期具有区域性广泛沙丘形成和/或改造的特征。该沙丘自早全新世以来向东南偏南方向迁移了近900米，平均迁移速率为77米/千年，表明沙玛尔风系持续活动至少2万年。通过巨型沙丘迁移速率和湿润萨布哈堆积速率的对比揭示，尽管沙丘规模巨大，但在沉积记录中其原始形态的保存比例不足1%。

附：英文原文

Title: Not much to show for it: Late Pleistocene dynamics of migrating megadunes in the Rub’ al-Khali, Saudi Arabia, indicate minimal preservation of their deposits

Author: Charlie Bristow, Nicholas Lancaster, Khalid Al-Ramadan, Christina Neudorf, Amanda Keen-Zebert

Issue&Volume: 2025-11-20

Abstract: Luminescence dating of interdune sabkha sediments and cross strata deposited on the lee face of a 160-m-high mega-crescentic dune in the eastern Rub’ al-Khali sand sea provides information on dune dynamics and preservation potential. Optically stimulated luminescence ages show that the rates of dune accumulation varied during the latest Pleistocene and Holocene. Sedimentary structures indicate that megadune migration was the result of strong northwesterly “Shamal” winds. During the same interval of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, linear dunes in the northeastern United Arab Emirates were also accumulating rapidly, indicating that the period 169 ka was characterized by regionally widespread dune formation and/or reworking. The dune has subsequently migrated to the SSE almost 900 m since the early Holocene, at an average rate of 77 m/k.y., indicating persistence of the Shamal wind system for at least 20 k.y. Rates of megadune migration and wet sabkha accumulation reveal that, despite their very large size, less than 1% of the megadune would be preserved in a sedimentary record.

DOI: 10.1130/G53651.1

Source: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/doi/10.1130/G53651.1/700019/Not-much-to-show-for-it-Late-Pleistocene-dynamicsredirectedFrom=fulltext