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Changes in the sources, properties and fluxes of mineral aerosol (‘dust’) have significance as both indicators and agents of climate change, through radiative, cloud condensation and ocean biogeochemical effects. Quaternary aeolian sediments, worldwide in distribution, can comprise high-resolution archives of past climatic and environmental change, by incorporating chronological, physico-chemical and magnetic information. The magnetic record for a sediment sequence may reflect changes in sediment source, and diagenetic (post-depositional) loss and/or transformation and/or gain of magnetic minerals. Each potential pathway requires careful evaluation, to achieve robust understanding of the palaeo-environmental and/or palaeoclimatic information carried by sediment magnetic properties. The most important minerals for studies of aeolian dusts are those carrying a magnetic remanence at room temperature …