Sediment dating by luminescence: a review

Abstract

AbstractÐIn the present article we review applications of luminescence methods for the determination of the age of sediments for Quaternary Earth science.``Sediment'' is taken to include any mineral particles transported by wind, water and/or ice and subsequently deposited. Methodology is not discussed per se but appears in context. The emphasis is on recent work and is illustrative rather than exhaustive. Applications in archaeology are mentioned only brie¯y. Successful dating requires that the luminescence signal has been zeroed by sunlight at the time the sediment was laid down. Dune sands and loess transported in full daylight usually satisfy this condition and have been dated by both traditional thermoluminescence and by optical methods. Optical dating is advantageous for less well-bleached sediments, such as are found in colder climates and those laid down by¯uvial and glacial processes, although the prospects for dating the latter are shown to be poor. Among less common contexts are volcanic eruptions, earthquake faults and tsunami deposits. The dating of very young sediments, less than 2 ka, is demonstrated and the factors limiting the dating of very old sediments, 500 ka to 1 Ma, are discussed. Validation of any dating method by comparison with other methods is necessary; luminescence ages have been successfully compared with ages obtained by, for example, 14 C, U±Th series and d 18O isotope ratios. The most dicult problems encountered in dating quartz, feldspars and undierentiated ®ne grain mixtures include: anomalous fading (which leads to underestimates of age), incomplete zeroing (which gives overestimates) and sample inhomogeneity. Methods devised to minimise these eects include preheating regimes, selection of observing wavelengths and of stimulating wavelengths for optical dating, the use of single aliquot and single grain measurements. The use of appropriate data analysis procedures is also important. Advice on current best practice on procedures for obtaining reliable ages is oered and, in all applications, there are suggestions as to where further research might be directed. #

Dating of erosion surface and terraces in the eastern Qilian Shan, northwest China

“…Afterwards, the samples were measured on an ultra-low-level liquid scintillation Spectrometer. TL and IRSL techniques, because they are applicable to dating of the loess samples younger than 100-150 ka, have also been employed to help date the terraces underlying late Pleistocene loess strata with relatively high precision (Prescott and Robertson, 1997). This has been undertaken in the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology in IEECAS (Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences).…”

“…Radiocarbon dating, for example, is widely applied on organic matter preserved either within an aggradational fill or in the veneer of gravels that commonly mantles strath terraces, but its usefulness typically extends no further back than 40 ka (Watchman and Twidale, 2002). The range of thermoluminescence (TL) and infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of natural sediments extends back to approximately 120 ka (Prescott and Robertson, 1997). However, electron spin resonance (ESR) offers the possibility to extend the time range of sediment dating over a few hundred thousand years, back to 1 Ma and beyond (Laurent et al, 1998).…”

A new OSL chronology for dust accumulation in the last 130,000 yr for the Chinese Loess Plateau

“…Until 1996, most of the luminescence age estimates for Chinese loess had been obtained by multiple aliquot thermoluminescence (TL), and some by infraredstimulated luminescence (IRSL), dating methods applied to polymineral fine grains (Lu et al, 1987(Lu et al, , 1988(Lu et al, , 1999Forman, 1991;Musson et al, 1994;Frechen, 1999;Zhao, 2003). The Quaternary Research 67 (2007) 152 -160 www.elsevier.com/locate/yqres precision and accuracy of TL and IRSL ages beyond 50 ka has been questioned (e.g., Wintle, 1990;Zhou et al, 1995;Prescott and Robertson, 1997). However, luminescence dating has undergone many innovations in methodology in the past decades, especially with the development of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating (Huntley et al, 1985).…”

Environmental evolution of Xingkai (Khanka) Lake since 200 ka by OSL dating of sand hills

“…The U and Th contents were measured by neutron activation analysis, while the K content was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The environmental dose rate was estimated using the method described by Fleming [20].…”