<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>SAR-OSL dating studies of Romanian, Serbian and Chinese loess using fine and coarse quartz have previously resulted in a series of controversial issues. We extend here the investigations using fine (4–11 μm) and different coarse quartz (>63 μm) grains extracted from aeolianites from a site on Eivissa Island (southwestern Mediterranean). Aeolianites were chosen since they contain quartz from a different geological context and have significantly lower environmental dose rates. The dose response curves of the OSL signals for fine and coarse quartz are similar to those for loess and are also represented by the sum of two saturating exponential functions. For doses up to ~200 Gy, the dose response curves of fine and coarse grains from aeolianites can be superimposed and the ages obtained for the different grain sizes are in agreement up to ~250 ka, increasing our confidence in the accuracy of the ages obtained for samples with such doses, irrespective of the magnitude of the environmental dose rate.</p><p>Particularly for the fine quartz fraction, a mismatch between the SAR dose response curve and the dose response curve obtained when doses are added to the natural is reported, indicating that the application of the SAR protocol in the high dose range is problematic. This dose dependent deviation is much less pronounced for coarse grains. Thus, it seems reasonable to infer that the dose response curves for the coarse grains, although saturating earlier can be regarded as more reliable for equivalent dose calculation than those for the fine grains.</p></abstract>

SAR-OSL dating studies of Romanian, Serbian and Chinese loess using fine and coarse quartz have previously resulted in a series of controversial issues. We extend here the investigations using fine (4–11 μm) and different coarse quartz (>63 μm) grains extracted from aeolianites from a site on Eivissa Island (southwestern Mediterranean). Aeolianites were chosen since they contain quartz from a different geological context and have significantly lower environmental dose rates. The dose response curves of the OSL signals for fine and coarse quartz are similar to those for loess and are also represented by the sum of two saturating exponential functions. For doses up to ~200 Gy, the dose response curves of fine and coarse grains from aeolianites can be superimposed and the ages obtained for the different grain sizes are in agreement up to ~250 ka, increasing our confidence in the accuracy of the ages obtained for samples with such doses, irrespective of the magnitude of the environmental dose rate.Particularly for the fine quartz fraction, a mismatch between the SAR dose response curve and the dose response curve obtained when doses are added to the natural is reported, indicating that the application of the SAR protocol in the high dose range is problematic. This dose dependent deviation is much less pronounced for coarse grains. Thus, it seems reasonable to infer that the dose response curves for the coarse grains, although saturating earlier can be regarded as more reliable for equivalent dose calculation than those for the fine grains.

Assessing the maximum limit of SAR-OSL dating using quartz of different grain sizes

Geochronometria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

SAR-OSL dating studies of Romanian, Serbian and Chinese loess using fine and coarse quartz have previously resulted in a series of controversial issues. We...

Assessing the maximum limit of SAR-OSL dating using quartz of different grain sizes

Article Category: Regular Articles

Published Online: Aug 11, 2018

Page range: 146 - 159

Received: Jan 08, 2018

Accepted: Apr 20, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0092

Keywords
quartz, SAR-OSL, aeolianites, dose response, saturation characteristics, accuracy

© 2018 V. Anechitei-Deacu., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Assessing the maximum limit of SAR-OSL dating using quartz of different grain sizes

Article Category: Regular Articles

Published Online: Aug 11, 2018

Page range: 146 - 159

Received: Jan 08, 2018

Accepted: Apr 20, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0092

Keywordsquartz, SAR-OSL, aeolianites, dose response, saturation characteristics, accuracy

© 2018 V. Anechitei-Deacu., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
quartz, SAR-OSL, aeolianites, dose response, saturation characteristics, accuracy