Improvements in infrared stimulated dating of partially bleached sediments - the 'differential' partial bleach technique

Abstract

A new approach to estimate optical ages making use of the most light sensitive component of partially bleached sediments is proposed. A differential partial bleach tecnique is used where the stimulation duing measurement substitutes for the laboratory bleach. Results on infrared stimulated luminescence frome fine grain sediments of diverse depositional environments, based on this approach are presented. Improvements are obtained in the case of poorly bleached sediments, whereas results for well bleached sediments are consistent with other optical dating results. The differential partial bleach technique is seen as primarily applicable to silt-sized sediments, for which single-grain dating is not feasible.