Dune systems and aeolian deposits (including desert margin loess) provide a valuable source of information on past climate conditions in desert and desert margin areas, including unique data on past wind regimes. Until recently, periods of aeolian deposition could only be dated indirectly by reference to stratigraphic relations to deposits or features dated using radiocarbon (e.g. lacustrine deposits; buried soils). Such an approach has provided a large amount of data on the chronology of periods of aeolian deposition, but often with a very broad temporal resolution. In the past two decades, the development of luminescence dating techniques has provided the means to directly date periods of aeolian deposition, by determining the time elapsed since burial. This has resulted in an explosion of information on the chronologies of aeolian deposition in many desert regions as well as in the semi-arid areas that adjoin them.

The goal of this focus area is to develop an improved understanding of the history of aeolian processes in arid regions so that more precise correlations of periods of aeolian deposition may be made to other terrestrial and marine palaeoclimatic proxies and records. Such correlations will result in improved understanding of the conditions in which aeolian deposits form as well as the climate history of low latitude arid regions.

The primary means to achieve the goal of the focus area is through the development of a global database of geographically-accurate maps of individual desert and other inland dunefields and sand seas using GIS technology. The digital atlas database will incorporate information on dune morphology, activity status, and dune chronology, so enabling regional and global correlation of periods of dune construction or reworking via construction of time-slice maps of dune development and extent.

The focus area will also establish links with other groups working on Quaternary aeolian processes including, but not limited to:

1. DIRTMAP (Dust Indicators of Terrestrial and Marine Paleoenvironments)
http://www.bridge.bris.ac.uk/projects/DIRTMAP

2. QUEST Working Group on Dust
http://www.bridge.bris.ac.uk/projects/dust/QWGD_files/Page499.htm

3. Loess letter group (Ian Smalley)
http://www.leicestercitycouncil.co.uk/loessletter/

3. Initial correspondents, including the leader, together with a statement that those named are prepared to serve

   3.1 Focus Area Group Leader:

Prof. Nick Lancaster
Desert Research Institute
Reno, NV 89512, USA
E-mail: Nick.Lancaster@dri.edu ; nick@dri.edu

    3.2. Steering Committee Members:

Prof. David S.G. Thomas
School of Geography, University of Oxford
South Parks Road, Oxford, UK

Prof. Ashok Singhvi
Planetary and Geosciences Division
Physical Research Laboratory
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, INDIA

Dr. Paul Hesse
Department of Physical Geography
Macquarie University
Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Dr. Haim Tsoar
Department of Geography and Environmental Development
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beersheva, ISRAEL

Dr. Mark D. Bateman
Reader in Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction
Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research
Department of Geography,
University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK

Dr Charlie Bristow
School of Earth Sciences, Birkbeck College
University of London, London, UK

Prof. Dr. Olaf Bubenzer
Department of Geography
Chair of Physical Geography
University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg, GERMANY

Prof. Geoff Duller
Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences
Aberystwyth University,
Ceredigion, UK

Dr. Ed Rhodes
Department of Environmental & Geographical Sciences
Manchester Metropolitan University,
Manchester, UK

Dr. Matt Telfer
Research Associate to the Oxford Luminescence Dating (OLD) laboratory and
College Lecturer, St Catherine's College
Oxford University Centre for the Environment,
South Parks Road, Oxford, UK

Dr. Stephen Wolfe
Natural Resources Canada
Geological Survey of Canada
Ottawa, CANADA

Prof. Xiaoping YANG
Institute of Geology and Geophysics
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing, CHINA