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Application of luminescence dating to Quaternary tectonic movements and environmental change
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Quaternary International 199 (2009) 1–2
Editorial
Application of luminescence dating to Quaternary tectonic movements and environmental change Luminescence dating can provide ages for the deposition of sediments using the commonest minerals on the Earth, quartz and feldspar, for the past 150 ka (Murray and Olley, 2002; Duller, 2004; Wintle, 2008). These methods provide a powerful tool to reconstruct the timing of past environmental events and tectonic movements, especially where other radiometric dating methods are not applicable due to the lack of suitable materials. This issue of Quaternary International contains one review paper and nine original papers dealing with various aspects of the application of luminescence methods: the first group of papers illustrate different ways in which luminescence dating of sediments can be used to constrain the timing of seismic activity (Fattahi, 2009; Porat et al., 2009; Y.W. Chen et al., 2009; Y.G. Chen et al., 2009; Vandenberghe et al., 2009), while the second group of papers illustrate the wide range of depositional environments in which luminescence can be applied, including coastal, fluvial and glacial, providing chronologies of Quaternary environmental and tectonic changes (Mahan et al., 2009; Choi et al., 2009; Martins et al., 2009; Narama et al., 2009; Gali et al., 2009). Fattahi (2009) reviews past studies which applied thermoluminescence (TL) dating to determine the ages of sediments associated with seismic events. It is generally accepted that the TL signal of minerals within fault gouges are not reset by faulting, and thus the majority of studies have used luminescence dating of sediments which can be associated with fault activity (e.g. colluvial wedges that form against fault scarps) to constrain tectonic activity. Although TL may have a greater age range compared to dating using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), the TL signal is reset by exposure to daylight much more slowly than OSL, and this is likely to be a limiting factor when dating earthquake-related sediments. Porat et al. (2009) use OSL to date colluvial sediments from Elat, southern Israel, which lies on the active Dead Sea transform. It is shown that in this instance even the OSL signal is not completely reset, and that only singlegrain OSL measurements of quartz are able to identify bleached grains. The results show that the colluvial wedges were formed due to an earthquake between 500 and 1300 years ago.
Y.W. Chen et al. (2009) use OSL to investigate longterm crustal movement of the Chiuchiungkeng Fault, Taiwan. They date quartz from two bore hole sediments and dissected alluvial fans, and calculate a long-term slip rate of 1.5 m ka 1 and a long-term tilt rate of 42 m km 1. Y.G. Chen et al. (2009) reinvestigate the paleoseismic activity of the Chelungpu Fault, the source of the 1999 ChiChi earthquake in central Taiwan. A vertical slip rate of 0.91 m ka 1 was obtained from the depositional rate of the footwall, which is consistent with the cumulative vertical slip of 1.8 m for the last 2000 years. Vandenberghe et al. (2009) date quartz grains from a trench through the Geleen Fault, a branch of the Feldbiss Fault zone of the lower Rhine graben. The optical dating results constrain two recent fault movements between 2.5 and 3.1 ka and between 15.9 and 18.2 ka. Mahan et al. (2009) date aeolian sediments from a trench in the upper face of the Anton scarp, northeastern Colorado. The loess deposits were correlated to Peoria and Gilman canyon loess and dated by OSL to between 16 and 30 ka. There is no evidence of faulting in the excavated surface, but by dating the loess and by 14C dating of woody materials in the incised channel deposits, they are able to constrain the age of the down cutting of the scarp face to between 16 and 5.7 ka. Choi et al. (2009) date sediments from marine terraces from the southeastern coast of Korea using OSL measurements on quartz. The three terraces from the northern part of the studied area were dated to 127 ka (MIS5e), 73–80 ka (MIS5a) and 0.1 ka. This area has previously been considered to be tectonically stable, however, their results suggest that the area has uplifted more than 0.2 m ka 1 during the Late Quaternary. Martins et al. (2009) date K-feldspars from a suite of fluvial terraces of the Tejo River, central Portugal. Kfeldspar was chosen for dating instead of quartz, because the natural OSL signal from quartz was very close to saturation for most of the samples. Of the six terraces present (T1–T6) one dates to more than 300 ka (T3), one to 107–222 ka (T4) and one to 42–99 ka (T5) after correction for anomalous fading.
1040-6182/$ - see front matter r 2009 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2009.01.002
ARTICLE IN PRESS 2
Editorial / Quaternary International 199 (2009) 1–2
Narama et al. (2009) apply OSL dating of fine-grained quartz from glacial sediments and adjacent loess from moraines in the Terskey Alatoo and At-Bashy Ranges, Kyrgys Republic. Two large glacier expansions during the last Glacial are dated to MIS4 to MIS3 and MIS2. Gali et al. (2009) date quartz and K-feldspar grains from a Late Glacial to Holocene sediment succession from the Po Plain, Italy. It was found that the quartz OSL dates are systematically younger than the K-feldspar ages, possibly because of the presence of an unstable medium component in the quartz OSL. We hope that this issue will be of interest to people related to Quaternary science and it will contribute significantly to the development of chronological approaches in the field. References Chen, Y.G., Chen, Y.W., Chen, W.S., Lee, K.J., Lee, L.S., Lu, S.T., Lee, Y.H., Watanuki, T., Lin, Y.N.N., 2009. Optical dating of a sedimentary sequence in a trenching site on the source fault of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2009.01.001. Chen, Y.W., Chen, Y.G., Murray, A.S., Watanuki, T., Chen, W.S., Yang, C.C.B., Liu, T.K., Lin, C.W., 2009. Long-term crustal movement caused by the Chiuchiungkeng Fault in southwestern Taiwan: Constraints from luminescence dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.07.014. Choi, J.H., Kim, J.W., Murray, A.S., Hong, D.G., Chang, H.W., Cheong, C.S., 2009. OSL dating of marine terrace sediments on the southeastern coast of Korea with implications for Quaternary tectonics. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.07.009. Duller, G.A.T., 2004. Luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments: recent advances. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, 183–192. Fattahi, M., 2009. Dating past earthquakes and related sediments by thermoluminescenc methods: a review. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.06.015. Gali, A., Panzeri, L., Martini, M., Sibilia, E., Vignola, P., Ando`, S., Pini, R., Rossi, P.M., 2009. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of a stratigraphic Late Glacial–Holocene sequence in the Po plain (Bubano quarry, Bologna, Italy). Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.11.001. Mahan, S.A., Noe, D.C., McCalpin, J.P., 2009. Use of OSL dating to establish the stratigraphic framework of Quaternary eolian sediments, Anton scarp upper trench, Northeastern Colorado High Plains, USA. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.09.006. Martins, A., Cunha, P.P, Huot, S., Murray, A.S., Buylaert, J.P., 2009. Geomorphological correlation of the tectonically displaced Tejo River
terraces (Ga˜viao-Chamusca area, Portugal) supported by luminescence dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/ j.quaint.2009.01.009. Murray, A.S., Olley, J.M., 2002. Precision and accuracy in the optically stimulated luminescence dating of sedimentary quartz: a status review. Geochronometria 21, 1–16. Narama, C., Kondo, R., Tsukamoto, S., Kajiura, T., Duishonakunov, M., Abdrakhmanov, K., 2009. Timing of glacier expansion during the Last Glacial in the inner Tien Shan, Kyrgyz Republic by OSL dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint. 2008.04.010. Porat, N., Duller, G.A.T., Amit, R., Zilberman, E., Enzel, Y., 2009. Recent faulting in southern Arava, Dead Sea Transform: Evidence from single grain luminescence dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.08.039. Vandenberghe, D., Vanneste, K., Verbeeck, K., Paulissen, E., Buylaert, J.P., De Corte, F., Van den haute, P., 2009. Late Weichselian and Holocene earthquake events along the Geleen Fault in NE Belgium: OSL age constraints. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.11.017. Wintle, A.G., 2008. Luminescence dating: where it has been and where it is going. Boreas 37, 471–482.
Sumiko Tsukamoto Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, Stilleweg 2, D30655 Hannover, Germany E-mail address: [email protected] Geoff Duller Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK E-mail address: [email protected] Andrew Murray Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, Risø DTU, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark E-mail address: [email protected] Jeong-Heon Choi Division of Earth and Environmental Science, Korea Basic Science Institute, 113 Gwahangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Republic of Korea E-mail address: [email protected]
Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 511 6432799; fax: +49 511 6433665.
Quaternary International 199 (2009) 1–2
Editorial
Application of luminescence dating to Quaternary tectonic movements and environmental change Luminescence dating can provide ages for the deposition of sediments using the commonest minerals on the Earth, quartz and feldspar, for the past 150 ka (Murray and Olley, 2002; Duller, 2004; Wintle, 2008). These methods provide a powerful tool to reconstruct the timing of past environmental events and tectonic movements, especially where other radiometric dating methods are not applicable due to the lack of suitable materials. This issue of Quaternary International contains one review paper and nine original papers dealing with various aspects of the application of luminescence methods: the first group of papers illustrate different ways in which luminescence dating of sediments can be used to constrain the timing of seismic activity (Fattahi, 2009; Porat et al., 2009; Y.W. Chen et al., 2009; Y.G. Chen et al., 2009; Vandenberghe et al., 2009), while the second group of papers illustrate the wide range of depositional environments in which luminescence can be applied, including coastal, fluvial and glacial, providing chronologies of Quaternary environmental and tectonic changes (Mahan et al., 2009; Choi et al., 2009; Martins et al., 2009; Narama et al., 2009; Gali et al., 2009). Fattahi (2009) reviews past studies which applied thermoluminescence (TL) dating to determine the ages of sediments associated with seismic events. It is generally accepted that the TL signal of minerals within fault gouges are not reset by faulting, and thus the majority of studies have used luminescence dating of sediments which can be associated with fault activity (e.g. colluvial wedges that form against fault scarps) to constrain tectonic activity. Although TL may have a greater age range compared to dating using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), the TL signal is reset by exposure to daylight much more slowly than OSL, and this is likely to be a limiting factor when dating earthquake-related sediments. Porat et al. (2009) use OSL to date colluvial sediments from Elat, southern Israel, which lies on the active Dead Sea transform. It is shown that in this instance even the OSL signal is not completely reset, and that only singlegrain OSL measurements of quartz are able to identify bleached grains. The results show that the colluvial wedges were formed due to an earthquake between 500 and 1300 years ago.
Y.W. Chen et al. (2009) use OSL to investigate longterm crustal movement of the Chiuchiungkeng Fault, Taiwan. They date quartz from two bore hole sediments and dissected alluvial fans, and calculate a long-term slip rate of 1.5 m ka 1 and a long-term tilt rate of 42 m km 1. Y.G. Chen et al. (2009) reinvestigate the paleoseismic activity of the Chelungpu Fault, the source of the 1999 ChiChi earthquake in central Taiwan. A vertical slip rate of 0.91 m ka 1 was obtained from the depositional rate of the footwall, which is consistent with the cumulative vertical slip of 1.8 m for the last 2000 years. Vandenberghe et al. (2009) date quartz grains from a trench through the Geleen Fault, a branch of the Feldbiss Fault zone of the lower Rhine graben. The optical dating results constrain two recent fault movements between 2.5 and 3.1 ka and between 15.9 and 18.2 ka. Mahan et al. (2009) date aeolian sediments from a trench in the upper face of the Anton scarp, northeastern Colorado. The loess deposits were correlated to Peoria and Gilman canyon loess and dated by OSL to between 16 and 30 ka. There is no evidence of faulting in the excavated surface, but by dating the loess and by 14C dating of woody materials in the incised channel deposits, they are able to constrain the age of the down cutting of the scarp face to between 16 and 5.7 ka. Choi et al. (2009) date sediments from marine terraces from the southeastern coast of Korea using OSL measurements on quartz. The three terraces from the northern part of the studied area were dated to 127 ka (MIS5e), 73–80 ka (MIS5a) and 0.1 ka. This area has previously been considered to be tectonically stable, however, their results suggest that the area has uplifted more than 0.2 m ka 1 during the Late Quaternary. Martins et al. (2009) date K-feldspars from a suite of fluvial terraces of the Tejo River, central Portugal. Kfeldspar was chosen for dating instead of quartz, because the natural OSL signal from quartz was very close to saturation for most of the samples. Of the six terraces present (T1–T6) one dates to more than 300 ka (T3), one to 107–222 ka (T4) and one to 42–99 ka (T5) after correction for anomalous fading.
1040-6182/$ - see front matter r 2009 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2009.01.002
ARTICLE IN PRESS 2
Editorial / Quaternary International 199 (2009) 1–2
Narama et al. (2009) apply OSL dating of fine-grained quartz from glacial sediments and adjacent loess from moraines in the Terskey Alatoo and At-Bashy Ranges, Kyrgys Republic. Two large glacier expansions during the last Glacial are dated to MIS4 to MIS3 and MIS2. Gali et al. (2009) date quartz and K-feldspar grains from a Late Glacial to Holocene sediment succession from the Po Plain, Italy. It was found that the quartz OSL dates are systematically younger than the K-feldspar ages, possibly because of the presence of an unstable medium component in the quartz OSL. We hope that this issue will be of interest to people related to Quaternary science and it will contribute significantly to the development of chronological approaches in the field. References Chen, Y.G., Chen, Y.W., Chen, W.S., Lee, K.J., Lee, L.S., Lu, S.T., Lee, Y.H., Watanuki, T., Lin, Y.N.N., 2009. Optical dating of a sedimentary sequence in a trenching site on the source fault of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2009.01.001. Chen, Y.W., Chen, Y.G., Murray, A.S., Watanuki, T., Chen, W.S., Yang, C.C.B., Liu, T.K., Lin, C.W., 2009. Long-term crustal movement caused by the Chiuchiungkeng Fault in southwestern Taiwan: Constraints from luminescence dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.07.014. Choi, J.H., Kim, J.W., Murray, A.S., Hong, D.G., Chang, H.W., Cheong, C.S., 2009. OSL dating of marine terrace sediments on the southeastern coast of Korea with implications for Quaternary tectonics. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.07.009. Duller, G.A.T., 2004. Luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments: recent advances. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, 183–192. Fattahi, M., 2009. Dating past earthquakes and related sediments by thermoluminescenc methods: a review. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.06.015. Gali, A., Panzeri, L., Martini, M., Sibilia, E., Vignola, P., Ando`, S., Pini, R., Rossi, P.M., 2009. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of a stratigraphic Late Glacial–Holocene sequence in the Po plain (Bubano quarry, Bologna, Italy). Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.11.001. Mahan, S.A., Noe, D.C., McCalpin, J.P., 2009. Use of OSL dating to establish the stratigraphic framework of Quaternary eolian sediments, Anton scarp upper trench, Northeastern Colorado High Plains, USA. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.09.006. Martins, A., Cunha, P.P, Huot, S., Murray, A.S., Buylaert, J.P., 2009. Geomorphological correlation of the tectonically displaced Tejo River
terraces (Ga˜viao-Chamusca area, Portugal) supported by luminescence dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/ j.quaint.2009.01.009. Murray, A.S., Olley, J.M., 2002. Precision and accuracy in the optically stimulated luminescence dating of sedimentary quartz: a status review. Geochronometria 21, 1–16. Narama, C., Kondo, R., Tsukamoto, S., Kajiura, T., Duishonakunov, M., Abdrakhmanov, K., 2009. Timing of glacier expansion during the Last Glacial in the inner Tien Shan, Kyrgyz Republic by OSL dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint. 2008.04.010. Porat, N., Duller, G.A.T., Amit, R., Zilberman, E., Enzel, Y., 2009. Recent faulting in southern Arava, Dead Sea Transform: Evidence from single grain luminescence dating. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.08.039. Vandenberghe, D., Vanneste, K., Verbeeck, K., Paulissen, E., Buylaert, J.P., De Corte, F., Van den haute, P., 2009. Late Weichselian and Holocene earthquake events along the Geleen Fault in NE Belgium: OSL age constraints. Quaternary International, 199, this volume. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.11.017. Wintle, A.G., 2008. Luminescence dating: where it has been and where it is going. Boreas 37, 471–482.
Sumiko Tsukamoto Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, Stilleweg 2, D30655 Hannover, Germany E-mail address: [email protected] Geoff Duller Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, UK E-mail address: [email protected] Andrew Murray Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, Risø DTU, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark E-mail address: [email protected] Jeong-Heon Choi Division of Earth and Environmental Science, Korea Basic Science Institute, 113 Gwahangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Republic of Korea E-mail address: [email protected]
Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 511 6432799; fax: +49 511 6433665.