Title
Optical dating of young coastal dunes on a decadal time scale
Author
Ballarini, M.
Wallinga, J.
Murray, A.S.
van Heteren, S.
Oost, A.P.
Bos, A.J.J.
van Eijk, C.W.E.
Nederlands Instituut voor Toegepaste Geowetenschappen TNO
Publication year
2003
Abstract
We explore the use of quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating for reconstructing coastal evolution on a time scale of decades to a few hundred years. Samples are taken from the accretionary south-west coast of Texel, a barrier island just offshore of the northern Netherlands. The ages of dune ridges are known from historical sources; an excellent chronology with a decadal accuracy exists for the past 260 years. OSL ages of less than 10 years on the youngest samples indicate that the OSL signal of the quartz grains is very well zeroed prior to deposition and burial. OSL ages of five samples from a 250-year-old dune ridge are indistinguishable, and the OSL ages on 17 out of 20 samples are in excellent agreement with the well-known independent age controls. Our results highlight the potential of OSL dating for high-resolution reconstruction of coastal evolution over the past few centuries.
Subject
Coastal zones
Luminescence
Quartz
Coastal dunes
Geochronology
Barrier island
Coastal evolution
Geochronology
Holocene
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http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b4014a39-fac9-41bb-8673-259df97a06d4
TNO identifier
237067
ISSN
0277-3791
Source
Quaternary Science Reviews, 22 (10-13), 1011-1017
Document type
article