Dust and loess in the Southern Hemisphere: An introduction

Abstract

Dust and loess deposits represent important archives of environmental change, providing insights into climate dynamics, atmospheric circulation, landscape evolution and ocean–atmosphere interactions across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Southern Hemisphere records offer valuable opportunities to investigate links between dust production, transport and deposition as well as the influence of glacial processes, atmospheric circulation and Southern Ocean dynamics. This editorial introduces a special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics focused on dust and loess research from Aotearoa New Zealand and southern South America. The issue brings together ten contributions that review the development of loess studies, present new stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental records, investigate dust sources and transport pathways and explore interactions between aeolian processes, marine biogeochemistry, climate variability and human activities. Collectively, these studies demonstrate the scientific value of Southern Hemisphere dust and loess archives for reconstructing past environmental change, refining palaeoclimate interpretations and improving understanding of Earth system processes and their role in the global climate system. As the first dedicated collection of dust and loess studies from Aotearoa New Zealand and southern South America published in more than 30 years, this special issue highlights the growing importance of these archives for understanding Earth system change and seeks to stimulate future interdisciplinary collaboration.