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Luminescence dating indicates radiocarbon age underestimation in late Pleistocene fluvial deposits from eastern England
Author(s) -
Briant Rebecca M.,
Bateman Mark D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.1258
Subject(s) - radiocarbon dating , geology , pleistocene , accelerator mass spectrometry , fluvial , optically stimulated luminescence , period (music) , glacial period , paleontology , thermoluminescence dating , absolute dating , archaeology , geochronology , physical geography , geography , quartz , physics , structural basin , acoustics
Robust geochronological control is crucial for interpreting and correlating the environmental record from fragmentary terrestrial sequences from the last glacial period. Traditional terrestrial stratigraphies are typically reliant on radiocarbon dating, although estimates of antiquity for samples older than 40 ka may be unreliable. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments is an alternative for dating the whole of the last glacial period and also provides the opportunity to independently test radiocarbon based chronologies. This paper presents a set of nine directly comparable paired OSL and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon ages from multiple sites within Devensian fluvial sediments in lowland Britain and shows that it is possible to obtain robust OSL age estimates throughout this time period. The two techniques agree well for ages younger than ca. 29 14 C ka BP (ca. 35 cal. ka BP) but disagree beyond ca. 35 14 C ka BP (ca. 40 cal. ka BP). This is thought to be due to radiocarbon ages on older organic material having been contaminated by low levels of modern carbon. It is therefore suggested that all conventionally pre‐treated radiocarbon ages greater than 35 14 C ka BP should be treated with extreme caution. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.