Testing the Applicability of Quartz and Feldspar for Luminescence Dating of Pleistocene Alluvial Sediments in the Tatra Mountain Foothills, Slovakia

Luminescence dating is a widely used method in combination with sedimentological analysis for reconstructing the landscape development of the Quaternary period. In this study, quartz and K-feldspar measurements were used to evaluate the luminescence characteristics with the aim of dating the deposits. The sediments were sampled from an abandoned gravel pit in the Biely Váh valley and eight sites in the lower part of the Velická dolina valley, High Tatra Mountains, Slovakia. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) showed that quartz had an unstable weak signal, and standard single aliquot regeneration (SAR) dose estimates were unreliable, as were doses from pulsed OSL and differential OSL. Infrared (IR₅₀) and post-IR IR₂₂₅ stimulation (pIRIR₂₂₅) signals from K-feldspar grains, on the other hand, gave stronger signals but were, to various extents, influenced by incomplete bleaching, fading and uncertainty due to high (>2D₀) doses. We find the uncorrected pIRIR₂₂₅ ages most reliable, though modern analogues indicate that there may be significant residual from incomplete bleaching for some of the samples. The results of the luminescence analyses, ages and sedimentology are put in the context of landscape dynamics and compared to the known glacial history of the Tatra Mountains.