A comparison of polymineral and K-feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence ages of loess from Franconia, southern Germany

Rahimzadeh, Neda; Sprafke, Tobias; Thiel, Christine; Terhorst, Birgit; Frechen, Manfred (2021). A comparison of polymineral and K-feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence ages of loess from Franconia, southern Germany. E&G quaternary science journal, 70(1), pp. 53-71. Copernicus Publications 10.5194/egqsj-70-53-2021

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Loess-paleosol sequences (LPSs) are essential records for reconstructing Quaternary paleoenvironments. No previous study has provided numerical chronologies of loess in Lower Franconia, southern Germany; their chronostratigraphic assumptions have relied mainly on German (pedo)stratigraphic schemes. In this study, we provide for the first time a chronology for LPSs in Lower Franconia based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating using quartz and a comparison of K-feldspar (63–100 µm) and the polymineral fraction (4–11 µm). Our results show that all obtained ages are in stratigraphic order, ranging from Holocene to late Pleistocene, and in general confirm the former stratigraphical interpretations. A good agreement of the obtained ages is observed between both feldspar grain size fractions; they also agree well with the quartz OSL ages up to ∼50 ka. However, a marked difference between the growth pattern of the dose response curves and consequently different saturation characteristics of fine and coarse grains is found. Even though in our samples the discrepancy in ages is not very significant, we suggest the use of coarse-grained K-feldspar whenever possible in order to not be confronted with unknowns such as the mineral composition of the polymineral fraction.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Sprafke, Tobias

Subjects:

500 Science
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology
900 History > 910 Geography & travel

ISSN:

2199-9090

Publisher:

Copernicus Publications

Language:

English

Submitter:

Tobias Norbert Sprafke

Date Deposited:

30 Jun 2023 07:51

Last Modified:

30 Jun 2023 07:51

Publisher DOI:

10.5194/egqsj-70-53-2021

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/184257

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/184257

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