Abstract. Luminescence dating is a tool frequently used for age determination of Quaternary materials such as archaeological artefacts, volcanic deposits and a variety of sediments from different environmental settings. The present paper gives an overview of the physical basics of luminescence dating, the necessary procedures from sampling to age calculation, potential problems that may interfere with correct age calculation as well as procedures to identify and resolve those problems. Finally, a brief summary of the most common fields of application is given ranging from artefacts to the variety of different sediments suitable for luminescence dating.
Glacial successions in the Anyemaqen and Nianbaoyeze Mountains of northeastern Tibet are reassessed and new glacial chronologies are presented for these regions. Cosmogenic radionuclide and optically stimulated luminescence dating indicates that two glacial advances occurred in marine isotope stage (MIS)-3 and MIS-2. In the Anyemaqen Mountains, a third advance occurred in the Early Holocene. We suggest that glaciation was synchronous in the Anyemaqen and Nianbaoyeze Mountains, as well as in other glaciated areas of Tibet and the Himalaya that are influenced by the Asian monsoon. The maximum extent of glaciation occurred early in the last glacial cycle (MIS-3) during a time of increased insolation when the monsoon intensified and supplied abundant precipitation, as snow at high altitude, to feed high-altitude glaciers. This suggests that precipitation, as snow, is fundamental in controlling glaciation in these regions. However, the occurrence of glacial advances during the insolation min
Moraines south of Mount Everest in the Khumbu Himal were dated using optically stimulated luminescence. Clustering of ages and morphostratigraphy allowed three advances to be dated: (1) the Periche Glacial Stage (ca. 18-25 ka), (2) the Chhukung Glacial Stage (ca. 10 ka), and (3) the Lobuche Stage (ca. 1-2 ka). The Periche Stage is coincident with Oxygen Isotope Stage 2; the Chhukung Stage represents a late glacial or early Holocene glacial advance; and the Lobuche Stage is a late Holocene glacial advance that predates the Little Ice Age.
Fluvial fill terraces preserve sedimentary archives of landscape responses to climate change, typically over millennial timescales. In the Humahuaca Basin of NW Argentina (Eastern Cordillera, southern Central Andes), our 29 new optically stimulated luminescence ages of late Pleistocene fill terrace sediments demonstrate that the timing of past river aggradation occurred over different intervals on the western and eastern sides of the valley, despite their similar bedrock lithology, mean slopes, and precipitation. In the west, aggradation coincided with periods of increasing precipitation, while in the east, aggradation coincided with decreasing precipitation or more variable conditions. Erosion rates and grain size dependencies in our cosmogenic 10 Be analyses of modern and fill terrace sediments reveal an increased importance of landsliding compared to today on the west side during aggradation, but of similar importance during aggradation on the east side. Differences in the timing of aggradation and the 10 Be data likely result from differences in valley geometry, which causes sediment to be temporarily stored in perched basins on the east side. It appears as if periods of increasing precipitation triggered landslides throughout the region, which induced aggradation in the west, but blockage of the narrow bedrock gorges downstream from the perched basins in the east. As such, basin geometry and fluvial connectivity appear to strongly influence the timing of sediment movement through the system. For larger basins that integrate subbasins with differing geometries or degrees of connectivity (like Humahuaca), sedimentary responses to climate forcing are likely attenuated.
One of the largest historical earthquakes in California occurred in 1872 along the Owens Valley fault located along the western margin of the Eastern California Shear Zone. New paleoseismic and optically stimulated luminescence data are the first to bracket the timing of the pre-1872 rupture to between 3.3 ؎ 0.3 and 3.8 ؎ 0.3 ka. These data yield an earthquake recurrence interval between 4100 and 3000 yr, under the assumption of uniform return, and indicate a Holocene slip rate between 1.8 ؎ 0.3 and 3.6 ؎ 0.2 mm/ yr. Our data are broadly consistent with a model proposed for the space-time evolution of the Eastern California Shear Zone. Our Holocene slip-rate estimates for the Owens Valley fault are slower than present-day slip rates determined from elastic half-space models of geodetic data. This discrepancy is reduced by using the recurrence interval estimated here and a viscoelastic model of geodetic data or by including geologic slip rates from adjacent faults.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.