ESR dating of aeolian sediments from Pleistocence desert environments

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Vött, since 4/2008
• Subject Area: Physical Geography
• Term: from 2006 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 27235964

Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy will be used to estimate depositional ages of aeolian sequences from Pleistocene desert environments. Recent investigations have shown that Ti related impurity defects in quartz have a great potential for establishing chronologies of aeolian deposits using ESR (Beerten and Stesmans, 2005). The most important prospect of ESR dating lies in the expected extension of the dating range beyond the upper limit of other widely used dating methods for aeolian deposits such as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) or thermoluminescence (TL) dating. In the past, several attempts have been made to date such deposits with ESR, but a systematic study is lacking so far. An extensive database of ESR dating results against other age control however is an important element in the evaluation of the ESR dating methodology. Several sequences from aeolian environments in Australia, Egypt, Sudan and Namibia, spanning the Late and Middle Pleistocene, will be investigated using X-band ESR spectroscopy of multiple grain samples. Such sequences are currently being studied in the framework of other projects, the latter providing (independent) age control based on luminescence methods, and indirect age control from the regional stratigraphy. It is expected that the output of this study will be an important step in extending the dating range of ESR beyond that of other techniques (i.e. OSL) used for dating aeolian deposits.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Dr. Koen Beerten
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Ulrich Radtke, until 3/2008