Climate and environmental history of SE Queensland dunefields (2015-2019)

This proposal aims to generate fundamental information about the timing and mode of formation of sand dunes in the world's largest downdrift sand system, Cooloola and Fraser Island, Queensland. The work will provide a world class record of climate variability, sea-level change and long term climate change from the sub-tropics of Australia, an area critical to understanding global climate links and sea-level change but where high quality long-term records are sparse and little investigated. This study will also underpin the outstanding universal value (OUV) of the Fraser Island World Heritage Area which is based on the area being the world's largest sand island but for which, scientific understanding of the sand dunes is remarkably poor.