Abstract
A new method for dating sediments is proposed, which determines the time since the sediment was last exposed to sunlight. An argon-ion laser is used to excite electrons from thermally-stable light-sensitive traps and the subsequent luminescence used as a measure of the past radiation dose. Two sample sequences spanning the periods 0–700 kyr and 0–6 kyr show steadily increasing luminescence with age. An age of 62±8 kyr is obtained for a silt radiocarbon dated at 58.8±0.3 kyr. Problems were found with two much younger samples.
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Huntley, D., Godfrey-Smith, D. & Thewalt, M. Optical dating of sediments. Nature 313, 105–107 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/313105a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/313105a0
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