(Goudie and Thomas, 1986; Goudie and Wells, 1995). Flanking the downwind margins, pans often have associated lunette dunes that display a characteristic crescentic morphology. These com- prise sediment commonly regarded as having been derived from the basin floor, though in some cases material may partially be sourced from upwind of the depression (Telfer and Thomas, 2006). Lunette sediments can comprise material ranging in size from clay to sand (Lawson and Thomas, 2002); the former attrib- uted to the direct pan-floor deflation of clay pellets during times of water-table fluctuation and the latter to deflation of littoral sand moved to the pan margin by wave action (Bowler, 1973). Suites of lunettes occur at some pans, with the oldest dunes situated furthest from the present-day pan. It has been argued that lunette dunes are Introduction Pans are closed depressions found in many dryland areas of the world. They are widespread in parts of southern Africa, with Shaw (1988) identifying eight areas of pan concentration, of which six occur in or immediately adjacent to South Africa (Figure 1). Pans generally consist of endoreic, flat, periodically inundated, unveg- etated basins that are several square kilometres in area or, in some cases, much larger. A range of geomorphic processes may con- tribute to their development and in some regions of southern Africa they occur along now-disrupted palaeodrainage lines A Holocene–late Pleistocene aeolian record from lunette dunes of the western Free State panfield, South Africa Peter J. Holmes, 1 * Mark D. Bateman, 2 David S.G. Thomas, 3,4 Matt W. Telfer, 3 Charles H. Barker 1 and Martin P. Lawson 5 ( 1 Department of Geography, University of the Free State, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa; 2 Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK; 3 School of Geography, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK; 4 Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa; 5 i-level, Elsley Court, 20–22 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 8BE, UK) Received 19 October 2007; revised manuscript accepted 20 March 2008 Abstract: The greatest concentration of pans in southern Africa occurs in the western Free State province, South Africa. A feature of many Free State pans is their fringing lunettes, located on the southern and south- eastern margins. Lunette dunes associated with pans in the neighbouring and presently drier Kalahari region show depositional ages, determined by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, primarily in the Holocene. However, to date, the precise timing of Free State lunette accumulation has not been investigated. The morphology, sedimentology and age of lunettes at five pan sites in the western Free State panfield are reported here. The lunettes form distinct topographic features, with heights up to 5 m above the pan floor, and all have been dissected by gully erosion. Sediment in the sand size class dominates in the lunettes, often over- lying clay-rich basal or pan floor sediments. The intra- and intersite data consistency of 46 OSL ages is inter- preted as reflecting regional causal factors responsible for lunette accretion, with phases of lunette building at 12–10 ka, 5.5–3 ka, 2–1 ka and 0.3–0.07 ka ago. These are in good agreement with the findings from pan-fring- ing lunettes in the southwest Kalahari and consistent with established records of palaeocirculation and wind direction over central southern Africa during the late Pleistocene. Lunettes in the western Free State are cur- rently not in a major accretion phase. They are subject to degradation by localized fluvial erosion, with sedi- ment being recycled into the pans. Key words: Aeolian, lunette dunes, OSL dating, pan, sediment, South Africa, late Pleistocene, Holocene. The Holocene 18,8 (2008) pp. 1193–1205 © 2008 SAGE Publications 10.1177/0959683608095577 *Author for correspondence (e-mail: holmespj.sci@mail.uovs.ac.za)