Recent developments in luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.A.T. Duller

Luminescence dating is an important technique for providing chronological control for Quaternary sedimentary sequences. In this article recent developments in luminescence dating are described, together with the implications of these developments for the application of the various types of luminescence dating techniques now available. In particular, the development of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques has had a profound effect upon the field, enabling younger materials to be dated, increasing the diversity of depositional environments that can be dated, and allowing the development of novel methods of age determination. The most exciting developments are the ability to obtain luminescence ages for samples in the age range from 100 to 1000 years, and the ability to date individual sand grains from a sample.

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahar Al Khasawneh ◽  
Andrew S. Murray ◽  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Dominik Bonatz

Abstract Recent developments in the use of more stable feldspar signals in the luminescence dating of sediments offer the possibility of obtaining accurate feldspar luminescence ages for ceramic artefacts; this is especially interesting in locations which do not provide suitable quartz extracts. Here we examine the application of the stable infrared stimulated luminescence signal measured at elevated temperature (in this case 290°C; pIRIR290) after stimulation at about room temperature to Levantine pottery samples. A total of 52 potsherds were collected from three superimposed iron-age units at Pella (Jordan); based on 14C dating, typology and seriation these units were deposited between 700 and 900 BCE. Sand-sized quartz extracts were unsuitable, and there was insufficient sand-sized feldspar, and so polymineral fine grains were chosen for dating. Various tests for reliability were undertaken (dose recovery, dependence of De on first stimulation temperature etc.). The pIRIR signals are weak, and 14 potsherds were rejected on this basis. Of the remainder, 3 were confidently identified as outliers. Based on those sherds for which IR signals were sufficiently intense, we use the ratio of the IR50 to pIRIR290 signals to argue that these outliers do not arise from incomplete resetting during manufacture. The ages from each layer are considerably over dispersed (typically by ∼25%) but average ages for each unit are consistent with each other and with the expected age range. The average OSL age for the site is 2840 ± 220 years (n = 35), with the overall uncertainty dominated by systematic uncertainties; this average is consistent with the range of 14C ages from 970–1270 BCE reported from across the destruction horizon. We conclude that the pIRIR290 signal is delivering accurate ages, but that the variability in age from shard to shard is much greater than would be expected from known sources of uncertainty. This demonstrates the need for site ages to be based on multiple samples; individual shard ages are unlikely to be sufficiently accurate.


2011 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 670-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Haslam ◽  
Richard G. Roberts ◽  
Ceri Shipton ◽  
J.N. Pal ◽  
Jacqueline L. Fenwick ◽  
...  

AbstractSingle-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating was applied to Late Quaternary sediments at two sites in the Middle Son Valley, Madhya Pradesh, India. Designated Bamburi 1 and Patpara, these sites contain Late Acheulean stone tool assemblages, which we associate with non-modern hominins. Age determinations of 140–120 ka place the formation of these sites at around the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6–5 transition, placing them among the youngest Acheulean sites in the world. We present here the geochronology and sedimentological setting of these sites, and consider potential implications of Late Pleistocene archaic habitation in north-central India for the initial dispersal of modern humans across South Asia.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (-1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Wintle

Future Directions of Luminescence Dating of Quartz Recent developments in our understanding of the limitations of optically stimulated luminescence as a dating tool are presented alongside summaries of results obtained on other luminescence signals measured in sedimentary quartz grains.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Murray ◽  
Lee J. Arnold ◽  
Jan-Pieter Buylaert ◽  
Guillaume Guérin ◽  
Jintang Qin ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Jamšek Rupnik ◽  
Lucilla Benedetti ◽  
Frank Preusser ◽  
Miloš Bavec ◽  
Marko Vrabec

<p>We investigated two prominent, <strong><sup>~</sup></strong>E-W trending scarps in Quaternary sediments, located close to the town of Vodice in the Ljubljana Basin (central Slovenia). By using detailed geomorphological analysis of the scarps, field surveying, and structural observations of deformed Quaternary sediments, we conclude that the scarps are the surface expression of a N-dipping thrust fault that has been active during the Quaternary. From Optically Stimulated Luminescence and Infrared Stimulated Luminescence dating of deformed Quaternary sediments we estimate a slip rate of 0.1 to 0.3 mm a<sup>-1 </sup>in the last 133 ka. Using the published empirical fault-scaling relationships, we estimate that an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 to 6.5 may be expected on the Vodice thrust fault. The fault may, therefore, present a major seismic hazard for the densely populated and urbanised region of central Slovenia.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqiu Zhao ◽  
Djordje Grujic ◽  
Santanu Baruah ◽  
Dawchu Drukpa ◽  
Joanne Elkadi ◽  
...  

The 1714 Bhutan earthquake was one of the largest in the Himalaya in the last millennium. We show that the surface rupture caused by this earthquake extended further to the east than previously known, it was at least 175 km long, with slip exceeding 11 m at our study site. The age of the surface rupture was constrained by a combination of radiocarbon and traditional optically stimulated luminescence dating of affected river sediments. Computations using empirical scaling relationships, fitting historical observations and paleoseismic data, yielded a plausible magnitude of Mw 8.1 ± 0.4 and placed the hypocentre of the 1714 Bhutan earthquake on the flat segment of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), the basal décollement of the Himalayan orogen. Calculations of Coulomb stress transfer indicate that great earthquakes along the leading part of the MHT would cause surface rupture. In contrast, distal earthquakes may not immediately trigger surface rupture, although they would increase the stresses in the leading part of the MHT, facilitating future surface-rupturing earthquakes. Frontal earthquakes would also transfer stress into the modern foreland basin facilitating southward propagation of the MHT as a blind basal décollement. In conclusion, studies of surface-rupturing events alone likely underestimate the seismic slip along the Himalayan megathrust.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
L. M. Tsodoulos ◽  
K. Stamoulis ◽  
C. A. Papachristodoulou ◽  
K. G. Ioannides ◽  
S. Pavlides

We have investigated the application of luminescence dating to sediment and pottery samples from a paleoseismological trench excavated in the Gyrtoni Fault, Tyrnavos Basin, Central Greece. The samples were dated following the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating method, using the Riso TL/OSL DA-20 reader. The OSL ages were obtained from chemically purified quartz and a single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol was followed for the equivalent dose (De) determination. Additionally, samples were collected and analyzed with the method of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, in order to assess their elemental composition. Radioisotope sources (109Cd and 241Am) were used for sample excitation, while X-ray spectra were acquired using a Si(Li) detector coupled with standard electronics. The XRF data were submitted to principal component analysis (PCA). This statistical handling aimed to distinguish from which part of the upthrown fault block scarp-derived colluvium and alluvial deposits, parts of the downthrown block were derived and thus estimate the displacement. The results indicated that both the OSL dating method and the XRF analysis combined with PCA can serve as useful tools for paleoseismological investigations.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document