Middle Holocene aridity, eolian-dune accretion, and the formation of Lake Mattamuskeet, eastern North Carolina

The stratigraphic record of Lake Mattamuskeet, eastern North Carolina, shows an interval of eolian activity in the middle Holocene. There are about 500,000 elliptical lakes, wetlands, and depressions with elevated rims located on the Atlantic Coastal Plain named Carolina Bays. Lake Mattamuskeet is the largest (162 km2; mean depth 1.0 m), and formed when a blowout depression of a parabolic dune flooded 1540-1635 cal yr. BP. The parabolic dune is up to 2.0-m thick, contains sedimentary structures that indicate rapid deposition, and is composed of a coarsening-upward sequence of silt at the base to sandy silt at the top. Below the dune is an 8420-8605 cal yr. BP paleosol, which corresponds to a wet period in the area. The bottom half of the dune deposit contains abundant charcoal beds and laminae dated at ~6600 cal yr. BP, indicating fire was associated with initial formation of the parabolic dune. Middle Holocene climate of the southeast Atlantic coastal plain is not well constrained. Deposition of the eolian dune could be a local response to fire; or indicate a time of reduced effective moisture in the area. Given that pedogenesis on the dune did not initiate until ~2780-2965 cal yr. BP and flooding of the Lake basin did not occur for ~1000 years after that, effective moisture may have been low for approximately 3600 years after initial dune accretion.