OSL-thermochronometry using bedrock quartz

A note of caution

Journal article (2015)

Authors

B. Guralnik Technical University of Denmark, ETH Zürich
C. Ankjaergaard Wageningen University & Research, RST/Biomedical Imaging - AS
G. Mathew Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
F. Herman University of Lausanne
M Jain Technical University of Denmark
A. S. Murray Aarhus University
A Muller Geological Survey of Norway, Natural History Museum of London
M. Wälle ETH Zürich
S. E. Lowick University of Bern
F. Preusser Stockholm University
E. J. Rhodes University of California
T. S. Wu National Taiwan University
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment
Quartz Fast OSL component LA-ICP-MS OSL-thermochronometry TR-OSL
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Published Date

2015

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) thermochronometry is an emerging application, whose capability to record sub-Million-year thermal histories is of increasing interest to a growing number of subdisciplines of Quaternary research. However, several recent studies have encountered difficulties both in extraction of OSL signals from bedrock quartz, and in their thermochronometric interpretation, thus highlighting the need for a methodological benchmark. Here, we investigate the characteristic OSL signals from quartz samples across all major types of bedrock and covering a wide range of chemical purities. High ratios of infrared to blue stimulated luminescence (IRSL/BLSL), an insensitive 'fast' OSL component, and anomalously short recombination lifetimes seen in time-resolved luminescence (TR-OSL), are often encountered in quartz from crystalline (magmatic and metamorphic) bedrock, and may hamper successful OSL dating. Furthermore, even when the desirable signal is present, its concentration might be indistinguishable from its environmental steady-state prediction, thus preventing its conversion to a cooling or heating history. We explore the saturation properties and the thermal activation parameters of various OSL signals in quartz to outline the capabilities and limitations for their use in low-temperature thermochronometry.