The timing and drivers of the formation of Fraser Island (K'gari) and the Great Barrier Reef remain poorly understood. This study uses optically stimulated luminescence and palaeomagnetic dating to constrain the formation of Fraser Island's dunes and the adjacent Cooloola Sand Mass. Both formed between 1.2 Ma and 0.7 Ma during the Middle Pleistocene transition, due to increased sea-level fluctuation amplitudes. Fraser Island's development reduced sediment supply to the continental shelf, facilitating coral reef formation in the southern and central Great Barrier Reef.

D. Ellerton, T. M. Rittenour, J. Shulmeister, A. P. Roberts, G. Miot da Silva, A. Gontz, P. A. Hesp, P. Moss, N. Patton, T. Santini, K. Welsh, X. Zhao