the chronology of holocene alluvial sediments from the wetterau germany provided by optical and 14c dating holocene floodplain chronologies are often hard to establish the principal limitation being the scarc ity of organic remains in the present study optical dating of flood loam was carried out in

phases of soil erosion derived colluviation in the loess hills of south germany in south germany soil erosion is as old as farming and dates back to early neolithic times its sedimentary products form thick colluvial and alluvial sediment bodies in all drainage basins numerous local studies exist but the extrapolation of findings from local case studies to a regional scale has been problematic here a graphical approach is used for frequency analysis of existing data a frequency distribution for optical dates on colluvial sediments from the beginning of agriculture until 1200 ad was constructed by 1 representing the optical ages by gaussian distributions and 2 summing all the single curves the resulting graph clearly shows phases of increased colluviation during periods of stronger human impact a first significant increase occurred during the bronze age during the iron age roman period and at around 800 ad distinct maxima appear in the distribution and highest frequencies are present towards the end of the analysed period at around 1100 ad conclusions that can be drawn from such an approach are limited by sampling bias and other factors but for the analysed period and on a regional and long term scale colluviation seems to have been mainly triggered by intensity of land use climatic fluctuations are of only secondary importance rainfall events that were sufficiently erosive to produce colluvial sediments occurred throughout the agricultural periods the limiting factor for colluvium production was sensitivity of the landscape to erosion and this is a result of land use d 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

optical dating using infrared diodes young samples abstract ages are reported for unburnt sediment samples from 9 archaeological sites in england spanning 1000 5000 years samples from two modern contexts have also been measured

chronology during the bronze age in the archaeological site tell qubr abu al atiq syria abstract archaeosediments are deposits with a direct or indirect anthropogenic component they provide useful information about past human activities and interaction with the environment when other materials such as pottery are present in archaeosediment layers the combination of tl ages from pottery and osl ages from sediments can provide complete data about the occupation and evolution of an archaeological setting in mesopotamia tells are mounds formed by the debris of human occupation and the accumulation of muddy sediments mainly due to the decomposition of mud bricks in ancient towns many other materials such as pottery fragments bones and charcoal can be found in the sediment layers the combination of osl tl and radiocarbon ages can be very useful in the case of the bronze age period in syria allowing the occupation sequence of such archaeological sites to be reconstructed tell qubr abu al atiq is located on the left bank of the middle euphrates river syria the archaeological artefacts found in the sediment layers pottery collected during excavations in two areas of the site indicated the occupation of the tell during the early and late bronze age by typological pottery classification the radiocarbon ages of charcoal indicate that human occupation fits the archaeological hypothesis providing an older and maximum occupation period between 2800 and 2300 bc and a younger period between 1400 and 900 bc osl dating of sediments shows ages younger than charcoal while tl ages of pottery are generally older than sediment and charcoal ages this can be explained as the different materials correspond to different events the charcoal and pottery correspond to occupation periods while sediments correspond to the further destruction of the site

geomorphology pedology and sedimentology of the deoha ganga ghaghara interfluve upper gangetic plains himalayan foreland basin extensional tectonic implications abstract regional mapping of soils helped to identify and map 24 soil geomorphic units on the deoha ganga ghaghara interfluve in the upper gangetic plains himalayan foreland basin on the basis of luminescence ages soil geomorphic units can be grouped into five members of a morphostratigraphic sequence with ages of 1 7 ka 1 8 3 6 ka 4 6 6 4 ka 6 8 10 ka and 10 ka except for two units with sandy parent material all the members with loamy parent materials show systematic increase in the degree of soil development from member qgms i to v major pedogenic processes are salinization alkalinization illuviation calcrete development and gleying and degradation of some micromorphological features is observed in the oldest soils regional mapping and dating of soils show that the interfluve between the deoha ganga ghaghara rivers is bounded by longitudinal faults along the bounding rivers the major longitudinal faults trend n s or nne ssw in the northern region turn n s in the central region and take easterly to see direction in the south giving the interfluve a curvilinear shape strike of a set of six transverse extensional normal faults changes from approximately e w to nee sww in the southernmost region of the interfluve downthrown sides are to the south and to the east in northern region and western region respectively due to the activity of different segments of various transverse faults during a probably dry sub humid to semi arid climatic period of 10 5 ka terminal fans were deposited on the downthrown blocks thus role of extensional tectonics in an overall compressional regime is significant also tilting of smaller blocks leading to the shifting away of large rivers seems to be an additional control on the distribution of soils and sedimentation on the interfluve

slip rate on the wellington fault new zealand during the late quaternary evidence for variable slip during the holocene we investigate fault offset fluvial terraces at two sites along the hutt river near wellington new zealand to determine horizontal slip rates for the southern part of the wellington fault for the last 100 ka using photogrammetric analysis of historic aerial photos we measured the original displacements of terrace risers at emerald hill which have been modified by urban development fourteen sediment samples from this site and from another location dry creek were analyzed using optically stimulated luminescence osl methods yielding ages of between 10 ka and 100 ka from our displacement age relations we estimate an average slip rate of graphic 1 2 during the last 100 ka however slip on the wellington fault has not been steady throughout this time during the holocene there was a phase of heightened ground rupture activity between 10 and 8 ka when an incremental dextral displacement of 32 m accrued this was followed by a period of relative quiescence between 8 and 4 5 ka with 5 m of displacement during this time another period of heightened activity followed resulting in a further 20 m of slip during the last 4 5 ka our inference of variable slip during the holocene accords with independent evidence from paleoseismological studies at other sites along the wellington fault slip on the wellington fault and its variability through time may be influenced by activity on neighboring faults online material part i optically stimulated luminescence osl dating technical report and results part 2 stratigraphic logs 1 embed inline graphic 1 gif

asynchronous holocene colluvial and alluvial aggradation a matter of hydrosedimentary connectivity based on optically stimulated luminescence osl and radiocarbon dating we establish chronologies of colluviation and alluviation in different floodplain sections of the northwestern wetterau loess basin germany similar to some other european valley floors holocene floodplain aggradation is marked by two important breaks 1 a millennial scale delay between the neolithic agricultural colluviation and floodplain aggradation in loess catchments agricultural colluviation started at about 7000 cal bp and anthropogenic floodplain aggradation only at about 2200 200 cal bp 2 a centennial scale variability in a temporary rise in rates of anthropogenic floodplain aggradation up to 3 6 1 7 mm yr during the high middle ages in directly neighbouring reaches independent archaeologic historic and vegetation records document distinct agricultural histories of hillsides and floodplains and highlight the importance of hydrosedimentary connectivity as compared with land use intensity the late iron age

buried dark soil horizons and archaeological features in the neolithic settlement region of the lower rhine area nw germany formation geochemistry and chronostratigraphy abstract the properties and age of buried humic and clay rich dark soil remains bht horizons and pits at archaeological excavations in the lower rhine basin nw germany were investigated these bht features were formerly described as a component of luvic phaeozems and as relics of chernozemic soils field observations challenge this interpretation the bht horizons in the lower rhine basin occur in a patchy distribution independent of relief position and climatic condition and they are mostly connected with artefact free but human made pits off site features consisting of the same bht material the presence of charred organic matter pyrogenic carbon and its radiocarbon ages suggested that these bht horizons are not relics of naturally formed soils but rather archaeological features pyrogenic carbon produced during agricultural burning practices e g slash and burn in the younger to end neolithic 4400 2200 bc led to the characteristic dark colouring of the soil material previously it was generally presumed that the parent material of those dark soils is pleistocene loess new irsl and osl ages around 6 4 4 3 ka indicate that the bht horizons in the lower rhine basin formed in colluvial sediments which also date to the younger to end neolithic thus the history of human induced soil erosion in the lower rhine area started more than 1000 years earlier than assumed before it was most likely connected to neolithic burning practices slash and burn which subsequently triggered soil erosion and then influenced the formation of dark anthrosols by eluviation and illuviation of the partly charred dark humic material these anthrosols are an example of strong human impact on soil forming processes since the onset of agriculture

luminescence chronology of late pleistocene glacial deposits in north westland new zealand abstract the chronology of the late pleistocene glacial history of north westland south island of new zealand is refined by luminescence dating of sediments it is demonstrated by two case studies that ages determined by different luminescence techniques agree well with the results of radiocarbon dating luminescence ages determined for sediments from two key sites of the loopline formation confirm the previous correlation of this unit with marine isotope stage mis 4 this indicates that late pleistocene glaciers reached their last maximum extent in north westland during the early part of the otira last glaciation furthermore initial dating evidence on coarse alluvial deposits in the lowlands indicates their formation during mis 5b and mis 5d it is probable that these coarse gravel deposits are outwash related to glacial advances if so both advances were probably much less extensive than the glaciations during mis 4 and mis 2

high resolution chronologies for loess comparing ams 14c and optical dating results the nuxloch loess section in south west germany is famous in central europe for its thick deposits from the last glacial maximum it has therefore been intensively studied during the past few years and offers an excellent opportunity to compare the performance of different dating techniques covering the period 15 45 ka here we present results fromoptical and ams 14 c dating the silt sized polymineral fraction of the clastic sediments and a multiple aliquot approach was used for ir osl dating 14 c dating was carried out on organic macro remnants and humin fractions extracted fromthe sedim ents with the exception of samples taken from the uppermost 1 5 m of the section ir osl and calibrated 14 c ams ages are consistent over the entire period the inconsistencies in the upper meters are thought to be due to disturbances during soil formation in the holocene the good agreement obtained on the remaining sequence demonstrates the high accuracy of both methods when studying loess sections for the ir osl ages no significant age underestimations are obvious the results clearly document that accurate chronologies can be developed for such continental sedimentary sequences this gives access to archives that can now be studied with a high temporal resolution and allows the establishment of new paleoclimatic proxies for the study of terrestrial responses to past climatic changes r 2003 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

classic and new dating methods for assessing the temporal occurrence of mass movements abstract establishing landslide chronologies is essential both for understanding causes of mass movements as part of fundamental geomorphological research and for the assessment of landslide hazards as part of applied geomorphology we discuss the applicability of different methods for determining landslide chronologies frequencies and dynamics in relation to the type of material being dated sampling location and type of mass movement the emphasis is on the possibilities and limitations of the different dating methods established methods such as radiocarbon dating lichenometry and dendrochronology are briefly discussed the paper focuses however on 1 new analytical techniques like accelerator mass spectrometry ams thermally ionising mass spectrometry tims and laser fusion which have led to significant improvements of established dating methods and on 2 new dating methods like optically stimulated luminescence osl dating and alpha recoil track art dating

infrared stimulated luminescence dating of holocene colluvial sediments using the 410 nm emission abstract infrared stimulated luminescence irsl ages are reported for loessic colluvial sediments from wiesenbach south germany the samples were collected by boring and the polymineral fine grain fraction t4 1 i m was used for irsl investigations irsl spectra were measured prior to dating they show two major emissions at approx 560 and 410 nm the advantages of the subtraction dating technique aitken and xie 1992 using the 410 run emission are demonstrated the ages obtained are used for the reconstruction of the landscape development at the studied site subsequent to an erosion phase the deposition of a colluvium started prior to the roman period and increased to a maximum accumulation rate during the middle ages

optical resetting in large drainage basins tests of zeroing assumptions using single aliquot procedures abstract optical resetting of previously accumulated charge populations at the time of transportation and burial of sediments remains a critical assumption in luminescence dating this is particularly the case for fluvial sediments we have tested the extent of bleaching in fluvial environments by applying the single aliquot regeneration sar equivalent dose d e determination technique coupled with tests for partial bleaching in the majority of cases samples collected from a point bar complex on the colorado river texas exhibit evidence of incomplete bleaching use of the minimum sar d e in these cases resulted in estimated residual ages of c 100 300 years in a similar examination of sar d e s for bed load samples collected along the loire river we observe a monotonic decrease in effective equivalent dose d e from values of 14 10 2 and 3 2 mean median and minimum gy at source down to 3 3 3 6 and 1 6 gy in the first kilometre of transportation down to levels of 0 3 0 2 and 0 0 gy for transportation distances exceeding 300 km we observed virtually no effect on the d e in the bed load of the introduction of trunk tributary streams and conclude that the likelihood of resetting of osl in large fluvial systems is somewhat more effective that previously considered when the recycling of sediments down the system are borne in mind

upper pleistocene loess stratigraphy in the southern yenisei siberia area the loess like sediments along the river yenisei provide a detailed palaeoclimatic archive of the last interglacial glacial cycle for the southern part of central siberia the loess like sediments were formed by aeolian alluvial lacustrine alluvial slope wash and flood processes chernozem or chernozem like palaeosols formed during the interglacial and interstadials the loess like sediments and palaeosols at the sections of tatysh and cholnokovo near krasnoyarsk and berezov were investigated with thermolumi nescence and infrared optically stimulated luminescence dating methods luminescence dating suggests that the oldest sediments below the lowermost chernozem formed during the penultimate glaciation it is likely that the lowermost chernozem at the tatysh cholnokovo and berezov sections formed during oxygen isotope stage 5 a large hiatus occurs above and below this lowermost chernozem indicating that most of the last interglacial and early glacial record is missing in the sections investigated the intercalated duplicate chernozem like palaeosols in the upper part of the section formed during an interstadial within oxygen isotope stage 3 indicating forest steppe climatic conditions between 25 and 35 ka bp the youngest loess like sediments overlying the duplicate palaeosol horizon apparently have a very high sediment accumulation rate

luminescence dating and its application to key pre late devensian sites in scotland abstract relatively few sites have been identified in scotland that contain records that predate the peak of the late devensian glaciation ca 18 ka bp where such records have been identified they have assumed a key role in developing our understanding of climate change in scotland radiocarbon dating has been the primary chronological tool applied to these sites but the reliability of age determinations in excess of 30 ka is questionable in this paper we describe the results of a programme which applies luminescence dating methods to eight key pre late devensian sites in scotland methods were developed and tested to enable the identification of samples for which luminescence dating was only able to provide an upper limit on the age because of the limited light exposure that the sample experienced at deposition these new approaches were applied to four sites where independent age control was available this meant that the choice of sediments from test sites was restricted to those sediments which were formed in the last 40 000 years and hence were amenable to radiocarbon dating the luminescence age estimates for the control sites and the pre late devensian sites are discussed within the context of any existing chronological control on a site by site basis

3 d finite element modelling of deformation and stress associated with faulting effect of inhomogeneous crustal structures summary modelling of deformation and stress caused by earthquake faulting or fault motion based on a homogeneous elastic half space model does not include crustal rigidity layering and lateral variations geological data and seismic surveys indicate that the crust is elastically inhomogeneous and that rigidity layering and heterogeneities are likely to affect the magnitude and pattern of deformation and stress we use the finite element method fem to investigate deformation and stress generated by strike slip tensile and thrust faulting considering rigidity layering in the crust for a fault with a dimension of 25 10 km and a slip value of 0 5 m cutting through the top 10 km of the crust the deformation and stress change associated with the three modes of faulting are calculated for an island arc crustal structure represented by three models of rigidity layering the results indicate i the maximum effect in horizontal displacements due to crustal layering for the investigated models is 19 7 mm and 28 8 mm for strike slip and tensile faulting respectively for thrust faulting the effect is up to 58 3 mm this remarkable effect is due to the offset of layers by thrust faulting which dynamically changes the crustal structure both horizontally and vertically ii the maximum effect in vertical deformation due to crustal rigidity layering for strike slip and tensile faulting is 5 mm in contrast the effect for thrusting is 30 3 mm iii the effect in the shear stress change at a depth of 7 5 km for the different styles of faulting ranges from 0 02 mpa to 0 10 mpa an additional modelling analysis of subduction thrusting at the japan trench with a detailed structural model based on seismic surveys further confirms the significant distortion caused by a homogeneous model that ignores crustal structural information overall the effect of crustal rigidity layering is at least 20 per cent for surface deformation and 15 per cent for stress changes at depth in light of the present accuracy of global positioning system gps observations 2 mm and the estimate of stress change required for earthquake hazard analysis ca 0 01 mpa the results from the numerical experiments indicate that crust inhomogeneity rigidity layering and lateral variations should be included in any quantitative models of faulting

age limit and age underestimation using different osl signals from lacustrine quartz and polymineral fine grains as part of a systematic palaeohydrological reconstruction of lake level fluctuations during the last glacial maximum a transect of cores from ancient lake xinias in centra greece has already been studied with respect to pollen sediment and mineral magnetic analyses the chronology was based on c 14 ams dating of terrestrial plant macrofossil remains from peat and clayey peat palaeogeog palaeoclimatol palaeoecol 158 2000 65 this site thus provides an opportunity for the comparison of fine grain optically stimulated luminescence osl ages of water lain sediments with an independent chronology we present here infrared ir post ir blue and blue osl characteristics of the fine grain sediments from lake xinias and a preliminary comparison with independent ages the equivalent doses based on the ir results are about 40 of those based on post ir blue stimulation which in turn are 10 15 below those based on quartz osl we discuss the ages derived from the 3 signals in terms of the independent chronology and draw conclusions about initial bleaching of the quartz and feldspar components and the reliability of the post ir blue signal as a chronometer c 2003 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved less

age and source of colluvial sediments at vaihingen enz germany abstract colluvial sediments accumulated on the lower slopes of a ridge as a result of past and present soil erosion were dated by optical 14 c and archaeological methods this allowed us to reconstruct the depositional history of the colluvium and also to identify temporary sedimentary sinks in its transportational pathway a cascade model of colluvium formation is developed colluvial sediments resulting from early soil erosion in the neolithic to iron age periods were mainly deposited on the upper slopes significant deposition on the lower slope occurred for the first time during the iron age and roman period since then deposition rates have increased because of more intensive land use

infra red stimulated luminescence dating of holocene reworked silty sediments abstract infra red stimulated luminescence irsl ages are reported for holocene colluvial lacustrine and alluvial sediments and late glacial loess for colluvial sediments irsl ages concur with independent ages age overestimation occur in the case of very poorly bleached sediments such as young less than 2000 years floodloams for which a high suspended sediment load was deduced from sedimentation rates and actually observed floods age underestimates are observed for late glacial loess probably due to inadequate preheat procedures

testing a model of alluvial deposition in the middle son valley madhya pradesh india irsl dating of terraced alluvial sediments and implications for archaeological surveys and palaeoclimatic reconstructions abstract over the past three decades the middle son valley madhya pradesh india has been the focus of archaeological geological and palaeoenvironmental investigations that aim to reconstruct regional climate changes in the late pleistocene and to understand the effects of the 74 ka toba super eruption on ecosystems and human populations in northern india the most recently published model of alluvial deposition for the middle son valley subdivides its alluvium into five stratigraphic formations each associated with a specific artefact assemblage in this study new cross valley topographic profiles field observations and infrared stimulated luminescence irsl age estimates are used to refine this model south of the rehi son river confluence these data not only provide insights into the fluvial history of the son river and its response to changes in palaeoclimate but will also inform future archaeological surveys by constraining the geomorphic context of surficial and excavated artefacts in the area

luminescence dating of the niederweningen mammoth site switzerland abstract luminescence dating is used to further constrain the so far controversial age of the mammoth site at niederweningen switzerland gamma spectrometric analyses reveal the presence of radioactive disequilibria in the uranium decay chain in most of the samples but these cause only minor uncertainties in the age estimates the major uncertainty is actually related to the problem of estimating the average water content for the whole burial time nevertheless even considering these problems involved with dose rate determination the dating results clearly indicate that the peat is significantly younger than early wurmian in contrast to some previous assumptions together with the results of radiocarbon dating and pollen analyses the luminescence ages point to a correlation of the mammoth peat with interstadial conditions during the early part of the middle wurmian at around 45 ka ago

a contribution to the understanding of late pleistocene dune sand paleosol sequences in fuerteventura canary islands abstract this paper describes dune sand paleosol sequences of four pits in northern fuerteventura canary islands the elaborated stratigraphy is reinforced with luminescence dating to provide a first chronological estimation apart from a holocene colluvial layer the sequence spans the period from ca 50 ka to ca 280 ka paleosols were formed during glacial times and point to a standstill in sand supply the isotopic composition of terrestrial gastropod shells retrieved from soil horizons reflects fluctuations in humidity conditions during different edaphic phases because eolian sands were deposited during glacial times as well it is inferred that soil development was simply caused by a decrease in sand supply independent of climate change our geomorphic geochronological and isotopic results are discussed considering different perspectives of dune sand paleosol intercalation and more broadly soil forming conditions in general

stratigraphy optical dating chronology irsl and depositional model of pre lgm glacial deposits in the hope valley new zealand abstract a 110 m thick succession of glacial valley fill is described from poplars gully central south island new zealand the section consists of eight lithofacies assemblages that represent different stages of ice occupation in the valley basal sediments record an ice retreat phase followed by a glacial re advance which deposited mass flow diamictons and till a subsequent ice retreat from the site is indicated by the stratigraphic transition from till to thick glacio fluvial gravels this is followed by a probably short lived glacier re advance that caused folding and thrusting of proglacial sediments final glacial retreat from the valley led to the formation of a large proglacial lake in total poplars gully holds evidence for two major ice advances separated by a glacial retreat that resulted in complete ice evacuation from the lower hope valley infrared stimulated luminescence irsl dating on ice proximal sediments from poplars gully yielded six ages between 181 and 115 ka bp our stratigraphic logging and dating results show that the fill sequence was not as previously thought deposited in association with ice advances during the last glacial maximum lgm nor indeed during the last glacial cycle lgm glaciers later overran the fill but we find that the older glacial sequences are considerably more voluminous than those deposited during the last glacial cycle we also show that the mid pleistocene glaciers carved a much deeper valley trough than did glaciers during the lgm taken together these features are likely to reflect a significant difference in the magnitude of successive pleistocene glaciations in the valley with the mid pleistocene ice advances having been considerably larger than those of the last glacial cycle the recognition of the in situ survival of extensive pre mis 5 marine isotope stage deposits in valley troughs that were later occupied by lgm glaciers represents a new feature in the quaternary stratigraphy of the southern alps the results demonstrate that new zealand s commonly very large soft sedimentary valley fills provide a valuable yet largely unexploited terrestrial sedimentary archive of successive glaciations in the region

extended range luminescence chronologies suggest potentially complex bone accumulation histories at the early to middle pleistocene palaeontological site of huescar 1 guadix baza basin spain abstract the palaeontological site of huescar 1 contains a diverse faunal assemblage and has played an important role in establishing local scale biozone successions in the guadix baza basin here we provide the first ages for the fossil bearing deposits at this site using a suite of extended range luminescence dating approaches including optically stimulated luminescence osl of quartz supergrains multi grain and single grain thermally transferred osl of quartz and post infrared infrared stimulated luminescence of k feldspars assessments of luminescence characteristics and laboratory quality assurance tests indicate that the huescar 1 sediments are well suited for extended range dating applications and the resultant chronologies obtained using different luminescence approaches display a high degree of consistency our combined luminescence ages reveal that the fossil bearing fluvial sediments at this marginal lacustrine site were deposited 420 460 ka or possibly 420 570 ka which is younger than some of the tentative late early to early middle pleistocene ages inferred from faunal associations comparison of the dating results with taphonomic taxonomic and geomorphic evidence suggests that the site may preserve an admixture of bones in primary depositional context and reworked fossils sourced from potentially older deposits in the surrounding valley as such the luminescence ages obtained for the host sediments may not be contemporaneous with all of the faunal remains preserved at huescar 1

geomorphological investigations and luminescence dating in the southern part of the khangay and the valley of the gobi lakes central mongolia geomorphological investigations in the catchment area of the baydragiyn river along the southern slope of the khangay and in the valley of the gobi lakes in western mongolia provide evidence for late quaternary glaciations and lake level changes thermoluminescence tl and infrared optically stimulated luminescence irsl dating of aeolian and colluvial sediments from the central khangay place the sediments that overlie fluvial and glaciofluvial terraces in the holocene an age of 21 ka is determined for a sand deposit overlying the terrace that is related to the last glacial ice margin lacustrine sediments from higher beach lines in the valley of the gobi lakes provide evidence for a slightly more humid period around 1 5 ka and a larger extent of the lakes in the early holocene at about 8 5 ka as also reported from other parts of central asia remnants of lacustrine sediments buried by alluvial gravel and indicating a huge palaeolake in the basin of the orog nuur however date to the early stage of the last glaciation around 70 ka copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

evaluating the suitability of extended range luminescence dating techniques over early and middle pleistocene timescales published datasets and case studies from atapuerca spain the emergence of alternative luminescence dating techniques such as thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence tt osl post infrared infrared stimulated luminescence pir irsl and osl dating of individual quartz supergrains has opened up new possibilities for establishing numerical age control on sedimentary deposits that exceed the traditional upper age limits of quartz osl dating in this study we evaluate the reliability of these extended range luminescence dating techniques over middle and early pleistocene timescales using two approaches i a broad scale synthesis of extended range luminescence chronologies published so far as part of known age comparison studies ii a series of new tt osl and pir irsl case studies at the palaeoanthropological sites of galeria sima del elefante and gran dolina atapuerca spain the published known age tt osl datasets n 82 and supergrain osl datasets n 3 display good correspondence i e suitably linear and proportion relationships with associated age control the known age pir irsl datasets n 228 display more inter sample scatter though there is general support for the reliability of more stringent pir irsl protocols and multiple elevated temperature pir irsl approaches over late and middle pleistocene timescales while these reliability assessments are encouraging there remains a clear need for more widespread known age empirical assessments of extended range luminescence techniques beyond 300 400 ka the ages obtained at atapuerca using single grain tt osl and pir irsl measurement temperatures of 225 c pir ir225 are in agreement with independent age control over an age range spanning 240 930 ka in contrast the pir irsl chronologies obtained using a more stringent measurement temperature of 290 c pir ir290 consistently overestimate the expected ages of the atapuerca sequences the single grain tt osl ages obtained at gran dolina permit calculation of a new weighted mean age of 846 57 ka for the homo antecessor palaeoanthropological horizon unit td6 the known age atapuerca case studies highlight the feasibility and advantages of applying tt osl dating at the single grain scale of analysis and demonstrate that the suitability of pir irsl dating protocols can vary significantly at a site or regional scale together our analyses show that no single extended range luminescence dating technique is likely to be universally applicable to all samples collectively however these approaches offer good potential for obtaining reliable chronologies and they are likely to offer the greatest benefits when applied in tandem to individual samples

luminescence dating applications in geomorphological research abstract chronological control remains critical to the interpretation of environmental change and to establishing long term rates of geomorphological processes radiocarbon dating will continue to be the central technique for age assessment of carbon bearing sediments deposited in the last ca 40 ka but alternative absolute dating strategies are required for older or non carbon bearing sediments they include uranium series dating of precipitated sediments k ar and ar ar dating of primary volcanic materials and cosmogenic isotopic dating of surface exposure ages an additional family of methods collectively termed luminescence techniques is increasingly providing a basis for the age assessment of detrital sedimentary deposits these methods directly date the deposition of detrital mineral grains typically quartz and feldspar and have been demonstrated to provide accurate deposition chronologies for up to 800 ka although 150 ka is more typical in the past decade a subset of luminescence techniques which employ optical sample stimulation methods called optical dating has made it possible to date samples from a much wider range of depositional systems given that the methods directly date sedimentation they allow direct assessment of depositional dynamism in numerous terrestrial and subaqueous including marine sedimentary systems and have demonstrated particular potential in the elucidation of chronologies from aeolian dune and loess fluvial colluvial coastal and volcaniclastic environments this paper provides a summary of the principles of the luminescence especially optical dating methods and shows how recent developments specifically single aliquot dating procedures have dramatically enhanced the scope and potential of the method the luminescence techniques are increasingly being incorporated into a wide range of geomorphological studies which seek to establish the nature of landscape changes over the past interglacial glacial cycle and beyond

late pleistocene glaciation of the kleiner arbersee area in the bavarian forest south germany abstract during pleistocene mountain glaciation of the bavarian forest south germany the wurmian kleiner arbersee glacier left behind glacial landforms and sediments which are described classified and interpreted using a combination of geomorphological sedimentological pedological surveying and absolute dating methods the latest kleiner arbersee glacier with a maximum length of 2600 m a minimum width of 800 m and a thickness of 115 m formed an elongated cirque four lateral moraines one divided end moraine one recessional moraine a proglacial lake and a basin in which lake kleiner arbersee was established after deglaciation beyond the glacial limit the landscape is denuded by periglacial slope deposits which are differentiated from the glacigenic sediments based upon clast fabrics clast shapes and sediment consolidation within the glacial limit sandy gravelly to silty gravelly tills are widely distributed whereas glaciolacustrine sediments are restricted to a small area north of the lake small variations in the sand and silt fraction of the tills are explained by melt out processes quartz mica and chlorite derived from gneiss bedrock are dominant in the clay mineral spectrum of tills but also gibbsite as a product of pre pleistocene weathering is present giving evidence of glacially entrained saprolites an irsl date of glaciolacustrine sediments 32 4 9 4 ka bp confirms the wurmian age for the glaciation and radiocarbon ages of the basal sediments 12 3 0 4 and 12 5 0 2 ka bp uncalibrated in the lake kleiner arbersee prove that the basin was ice free before the younger dryas

luminescence dating of hillslope deposits a review abstract luminescence dating determines the last exposure to light of quartz and feldspar mineral grains and thus the time a sediment was laid down prerequisite is that the sediment grains were sufficiently exposed to light prior to deposition for eolian deposits this seems a fair assumption although exceptions may well exist for other depositional environments light exposure prior to burial is often restricted in duration intensity and spectral composition and may result in an age overestimation recent developments now allow dating of sediments that were exposed to only little light prior to deposition the main developments are single aliquot techniques and statistical tests that allow extraction of valid age estimates even from deposits in which bleached and unbleached grains are mixed these developments in combination with the fact that the great majority of sediments near the earth s surface are not of eolian origin have resulted in the large interest in the luminescence dating of non eolian deposits here we review possibilities and challenges of luminescence dating of colluvial deposits we summarize techniques for the detection and handling of insufficiently bleached sediments a common condition in colluvial deposits we give an overview how luminescence dating has been applied on hillslope sediments for reconstructing landscape response to climate change to analyze past fault activity and unravel human induced soil erosion we discuss sampling strategies and give guidelines as to which techniques are best suited to establish luminescence chronologies for colluvium

quaternary deformation along the wharekauhau fault system north island new zealand implications for an unstable linkage between active strike slip and thrust faults 1 the southern wairarapa region of the north island of new zealand preserves a variably deformed late quaternary stratigraphic sequence that provides insight into the temporal variability in the partitioning of contraction onto faults in the upper plate of an obliquely convergent margin detailed mapping stratigraphic data and new radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence ages from quaternary units reveal the interaction between tectonics and sedimentation from 125 ka to 9 ka along the wharekauhau thrust and related faults i e wharekauhau fault system at the southern end of the wairarapa fault zone a major oblique slip fault in the upper plate of the hikurangi margin the wharekauhau thrust accommodated a minimum of 280 60 m of horizontal shortening from 70 to 20 ka the inferred shortening rate 3 5 8 4 mm yr may have accounted for 11 30 of margin normal plate motion by 20 ka the thrust was abandoned subsequent deformation at shallow levels occurred on a segmented fault system that accommodated 1 mm yr shortening active deformation in the region is partitioned between slip on 1 the more western wairarapa mukamuka fault system dominantly dextral slip but also causing local uplift of the coast 2 a series of discontinuously expressed strike slip faults and linking blind oblique reverse thrusts near the trace of the inactive wharekauhau thrust and 3 a blind thrust fault farther to the east the spatial and temporal complexity of the wharekauhau fault system and the importance it has had in accommodating upper plate deformation argue for an unsteady linkage between upper plate faults and between these faults and the plate interface

optical dating of annually laminated lake sediments a test case from holzmaar germany abstract we present results of an optical dating feasibility study for annually laminated varved lake sediments the fine silt sized clastic fraction of the sediments was extracted stimulated with infrared and the 410 nm emission was detected a multiple aliquot additive dose protocol in combination with a subtraction technique was used for the equivalent dose determinations results are promising only for sediments with high amounts of clastic components for sediments with a high organic component results are inaccurate perhaps due to problems in dose rate calculation we speculate that besides the low concentrations of radio nuclides and disequilibria in the u series dose rate determination procedures are inaccurate for sediments with high contents of biogenic silica sediment compaction seems to account for minor effects only

tl and irsl dating of jiahu relics and sediments clue of 7th millennium bc civilization in central china thermoluminescence tl dating of pottery and infrared stimulated luminescence irsl dating of sediments from early neolithic layers at the jiahu site henan province east central china have been achieved the pottery tl ages range from 6800 450 to 8900 640 years and the sediment irsl ages from 6750 760 to 8860 870 years confirming former 14c data both tl and irsl ages agree well with each other they reinforce the very early existence of a fully developed neolithic civilization in central china starting already in the first half of the 7th millennium bc and lasting about 2100 years from these layers finds of bone flutes and chinese characters have already been reported x li g harbottle j zhang c wang the earliest writing sign use in the seventh millennium bc at jiahu henan province china antiquity 77 2003 31 44 j zhang g harbottle c wang z kong oldest playable musical instruments found at jiahu early neolithic site in china nature 401 1999 366 368 the jiahu pottery of the 7th millennium bc belongs to the earliest in china and elsewhere

ecosystem response to lateglacial and early holocene climate oscillations in the great lakes region of north america abstract fossil pollen plant macrofossils gastropods and elemental and stable isotope geochemistry in a sediment core from twiss marl pond southern ontario canada were used to document climate oscillations during the last glacial interglacial transition 13 000 8500 14 c bp and understand their ecological effects chronology was provided by ams 14 c dating and regional pollen correlation oxygen isotope 18 o results from mollusc shells chara encrustations and bulk carbonates show a classic climate sequence of a warm bolling allerod boa at 12 500 10 920 14 c bp a cold younger dryas yd at 10 920 10 000 14 c bp the holocene warming at 10 000 14 c bp a brief preboreal oscillation pb at 9650 14 c bp and a possible gerzensee killarney g k cooling shortly before 11 000 14 c bp clay sediments at the base of the core contain high herb and shrub pollen and abundant arctic alpine plant macrofossils indicating a treeless tundra with severe soil erosion in watershed during the boa warm period authigenic marl began to be deposited and picea woodland became established the establishment of picea woodland after peaks of 18 o and of carbonate accumulation suggests a lagged response of upland vegetation to boa warming in contrast the occurrence of warmth loving aquatics najas flexilis and typha latifolia at that time indicates sensitive responses of aquatic plants the yd cooling is indicated by a 1 5 negative excursion in 18 o an increase in minerogenic matter and higher concentrations of erosion derived elements al na k ti and v pollen data show no forest transformation in response to yd cooling which is attributed to the insensitive nonecotonal vegetation at that time however more openings in the forests and increased erosion in the watershed are indicated by a slight increase of herb pollen high concentrations of erosion elements and a pediastrum peak the onset of the holocene was marked by an abrupt increase of 2 in 18 o and the replacement of picea woodland by pinus dominated forest the picea recurrence at 9650 14 c bp demonstrates sensitive response of ecotonal vegetation to the pb climate oscillation which is also indicated by 0 4 negative excursion of 18 o these new results suggest the importance of multiproxy records for reliable paleoclimate reconstruction reevaluation and revised chronologies of previously published sites gage street and nichols brook in the eastern great lakes region show their major 18 o shifts correlative to the yd and pb oscillations as documented from twiss marl pond and nearby crawford lake the sequence and magnitude of climatic oscillations from these sites match in detail with records from the atlantic seaboard suggesting that these oscillations are an expression of broad scale probably global climate change rather than local meltwater induced climate cooling