Optical dating of sediments

Huntley, D. J.; Godfrey-Smith, D.I.; Thewalt, M. L. W.

doi:10.1038/313105a0

Cited by 1,135 publications

(484 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Of the materials used for OSL studies, quartz is usually preferred (Aitken, 1998;Huntley et al, 1985). In addition, quartz has a range of industrial applications, which has rendered it the focus of intense research both into its physical and chemical properties, and its emission spectroscopy (see Götze, 2009; Krbetschek et al, 1997 for reviews).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The problem of dating quartz 1: Spectroscopic ionoluminescence of dose dependence

King

Finch

Robinson

et al. 2011

Radiation Measurements

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A suite of quartz samples of different provenances, irradiation, thermal and depositional histories were analysed using spectroscopic ionoluminescence (IL) to investigate variations in emission spectra as a function of cumulative radiation dosing. Protons were selected for implantation to mimic the effect of natural radiation over geological timescales. All samples exhibited depletion in the UV-violet emission (3.2-3.4 eV) with increasing cumulative dose, whilst the red emission (1.8-1.9 eV) increased. A power-law relationship exists between the two emissions. It is inferred that the luminescence emission of quartz is indicative of its radiation history, and spectral analyses could be used to determine the utility of different quartz samples for optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) where the detection range is limited to 3.4-4.6 eV. KeywordsSpectroscopic ionoluminescence, implantation, protons, quartz, optically stimulated luminescence dating. AbbreviationsIonoluminescence (IL), Ultra-violet (UV), Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) IntroductionOSL is used as a radiation dosimeter method within Quaternary geochronology, archaeology and retrospective accident dosimetry. Of the materials used for OSL studies, quartz is usually preferred (Aitken, 1998;Huntley et al., 1985). In addition, quartz has a range of industrial applications, which has rendered it the focus of intense research both into its physical and chemical properties, and its emission spectroscopy (see Götze, 2009; Krbetschek et al., 1997 for reviews). Numerous OSL dating applications to sediments of different ages (e.g. Ballarini et al., 2003;Pawley et al., 2008), provenances (e.g. Preusser et al., 2006) and depositional environments (e.g. Thrasher et al., 2009;Wallinga, 2002) have been made. However, despite the development of the single-aliquot regenerative dose protocol (Murray and Wintle, 2000), it is currently not possible to date all quartz using OSL. This is often due to quartz's highly variable OSL quantum efficiency (QE). The controls over quartz OSL QE remain unclear but have been linked to geological provenance (Götze et al., 2004;Rink et al., 1993;Westaway, 2009), irradiation (Rink, 1994, transport and thermal histories (Pietsch et al., 2008;Preusser et al., 2006). However quartz with the same irradiation, source and depositional histories often exhibit highly variable emission intensities McFee and Tite, 1998).The light emitted by quartz most commonly comprises bands in the UV-blue and red/IR (Krbetschek et al., 1997). Risø readers, the most widely used OSL instrumentation, stimulate the quartz with diodes at 470±20 nm (2.6 eV) and measure the response through Hoya U340 filters . The transparency of these filters lies between 3.4 and 4.6 eV and only a part of the UV-blue emission band is monitored. The remainder of the emission (below 3.4 eV and above 4.6 eV) is unmeasured in conventional OSL but may contain significant dosimetry or geological provenance information.Ionoluminescence (IL, also known as ion beam lumin...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The problem of dating quartz 1: Spectroscopic ionoluminescence of dose dependence

King

Finch

Robinson

et al. 2011

Radiation Measurements

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“…Quartz OSL dating (Huntley et al, 1985) has been increasingly applied in geochronology over the last 30 years. The development of Single Aliquot Regenerative (SAR: Murray and Wintle, 2000) dose measurement protocols has allowed determining individual equivalent dose (D e ) values for sets of grains usually called aliquots, whose size typically varies from several thousands of grains down to single-grains (Duller, 1999;Bøtter-Jensen et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the accuracy of a Bayesian central-dose model for single-grain OSL, using known-age samples

Guérin

Combès

Lahaye

et al. 2015

Radiation Measurements

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While reviews of comparisons between multi-grain OSL ages and independent chronological information are available in the literature, there is hardly any such performance test for single-grain OSL ages. And yet, this is all the more needed as the interpretation of single-grain dose distributions remains a difficult task, given the typically considerable dispersion in equivalent dose values measured by OSL -and the numerous sources of such dispersion in measurements. In this study, we present the OSL study of 19 samples for which independent age control is available, and whose ages range from 2 to 46 ka. Based on multi-grain OSL age estimates, these samples are presumed to have been both well-bleached at burial, and unaffected by mixing after deposition. Two ways of estimating single-grain ages are then compared: the standard approach on the one hand, consisting of applying the Central Age Model to D e values determined with the Analyst software; on the other hand, the central dose model recently proposed by Combès et al. (Combès, B., Philippe, A., Lanos, P., Mercier, N., Tribolo, C., Guerin, G., Guibert, P., Lahaye, C., in press. Quaternary Geochronology). The median of the relative discrepancy between single-grain OSL and reference ages is about twice as large for the standard approach (12%) than with the Bayesian model (7%). Statistical tests show that, based on our (limited) data set, the difference between the two models seems to be significant for samples in the age range 4-46 ka. Finally, the influence of various factors on the (in-)accuracy of single grain OSL ages is discussed; it appears that the accuracy of ages estimated in a standard way decreases when age is increased, while the Bayesian model seems more robust. This study also shows that (i) there is no 20 % limit on the CAM overdispersion parameter for well-bleached samples; (ii) dose recovery experiments do not seem to be a very reliable tool to estimate the accuracy of a SAR measurement protocol for age determination. Highlights-Samples with independent age control are dated by OSL -Their ages range from 2 to 46 ka -Multi-grain OSL ages indicate no bleaching/mixing problem -Single-grain OSL is analysed using two different models -A Bayesian approach is expected to lead to improved accuracy

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“…Early work by Kronborg (1983) and Berger (1990) concentrated on studying the amount of resetting of thermoluminescence (TL) in modern sediments and on dating deposits of known age, highlighting both the potential and limitations of TL. The introduction of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) opened new dimensions in the dating of water-lain sediment due to the higher bleachability of the optical signal (Huntley et al, 1985). Ditlefsen (1992) experimentally investigated the bleaching of sediment suspensions demonstrating that the optical signal is almost completely bleached in dilute suspensions within a few hours.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying SAR-IRSL methodology for dating fine-grained sediments from Lake El’gygytgyn, north-eastern Siberia

Juschus

Preusser

Melles

et al. 2007

Quaternary Geochronology

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Lake El'gygytgyn is situated in a 3.6 Ma old impact crater in north-eastern Siberia and probably represents one of the most complete archives of Arctic climate change. Investigated here is the potential of infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) using the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) approach for dating sediments from this lake. Independent age control is available from a published age model of a parallel core that is based on tuning sediment proxies with regional insolation and the results of previous multiple aliquot IRSL dating. Although the site is located within volcanic bedrock, anomalous fading seems to have little effect on the calculated ages. The modelled water content for the entire time of burial is seen as the most prominent uncertainty at this particular site. Despite these potential error sources, SAR-IRSL ages are in acceptable agreement with the given timeframe and clearly point to the possibility to establish independent chronologies at this site up to at least 400,000 years. r

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Optical dating of sediments

Cited by 1,135 publications

References 6 publications

The problem of dating quartz 1: Spectroscopic ionoluminescence of dose dependence

The problem of dating quartz 1: Spectroscopic ionoluminescence of dose dependence

Testing the accuracy of a Bayesian central-dose model for single-grain OSL, using known-age samples

Applying SAR-IRSL methodology for dating fine-grained sediments from Lake El’gygytgyn, north-eastern Siberia

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