Luminescence dating is used extensively to provide absolute chronologies for Late Pleistocene sediments. Nowadays, most optical dates are based on quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). However, the application of this signal is usually limited to the last ∼100 ka because of saturation of the quartz luminescence signal with dose. In contrast, the feldspar infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dose–response curve grows to much higher doses; this has the potential to extend the datable age range by a factor of 4–5 compared with quartz OSL. However, it has been known for several decades that this IRSL signal is unstable, and this instability often gives rise to significant age underestimation. Here we test against independent age control the recently developed feldspar post-IR IRSL approach to the dating of sediments, which appears to avoid signal instability. A physical model explaining our observations is discussed, and the method is shown to be accurate back to 600 ka. The post-IR IRSL signal is reduced by exposure to daylight more slowly than that from quartz and low-temperature IRSL, preventing its general application to young (e.g. Holocene) sediments. Nevertheless, this new approach is widely applicable (feldspar of appropriate luminescence behaviour is even more ubiquitous than quartz). These characteristics make this a method of great importance for the dating of Middle and Late Pleistocene deposits.

A robust feldspar luminescence dating method for Middle and Late Pleistocene sediments

https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/iges/research-groups/quaternary/luminescence-research-laboratory/dose-rate-calculator/downloads/Durcan_et_al.,_2015.%20DRAC_dose_rate_and_age_calculator_for_trapped_charge_dating._Accepted_Manuscript.pdf

DRAC: Dose Rate and Age Calculator for trapped charge dating

Seventeen Middle Pleistocene crania from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain) are analyzed, including seven new specimens. This sample makes it possible to thoroughly characterize a Middle Pleistocene hominin paleodeme and to address hypotheses about the origin and evolution of the Neandertals. Using a variety of techniques, the hominin-bearing layer could be reassigned to a period around 430,000 years ago. The sample shows a consistent morphological pattern with derived Neandertal features present in the face and anterior vault, many of which are related to the masticatory apparatus. This suggests that facial modification was the first step in the evolution of the Neandertal lineage, pointing to a mosaic pattern of evolution, with different anatomical and functional modules evolving at different rates.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/344/6190/1358.full.pdf

Neandertal roots: Cranial and chronological evidence from Sima de los Huesos.

https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1262&context=smhpapers

Luminescence dating of K-feldspar from sediments: a protocol without anomalous fading correction

/pdf/danube-loess-stratigraphy-towards-a-pan-european-loess-1qb9ukoe8h.pdf

Danube loess stratigraphy — Towards a pan-European loess stratigraphic model

Luminescence dating of the Stratzing loess profile (Austria) – Testing the potential of an elevated temperature post-IR IRSL protocol

Luminescence Dating of the Stratzing Loess Profile (Austria) - New Insights into Landscape Evolution

The loess profile examined here has a total depth of 7.5 m and is subdivided into 19 prominent horizons. For each horizon the grain size distribution, pH-value, total carbonate content, total organic content and sulphur content was derived in order to reconstruct the environmental conditions leading to sedimentation and soil formation. To set up a geochronological framework for the loess deposition and the subsequent soil formation, nine samples were dated by means of elevated temperature post-IR IRSL (Thiel et al., submitted).

/pdf/the-story-of-landscape-evolution-in-lower-austria-told-by-em932axoct.pdf

Ingo Hofer

Papers

Luminescence dating of the Stratzing loess profile (Austria) – Testing the potential of an elevated temperature post-IR IRSL protocol

Luminescence Dating of the Stratzing Loess Profile (Austria) - New Insights into Landscape Evolution

The story of landscape evolution in Lower Austria told by sedimentological analysis and luminescence dating