Luminescence chronology of late pleistocene loess-paleosol and tephra sequences near Fairbanks, Alaska

Thermoluminescence (TL) and infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) sediment-dating methods have been applied to paleosol- and tephra-bearing loess sequences younger than marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 7 at three important sites. TL ages indicate the development of significant paleosols ∼75,000 and ∼30,000 yr ago in the loess sequence at the Gold Hill site. Relatively minor soil development occurred ∼70,000 and ∼48,000 yr ago. Like the ∼75,000-yr-old soil, the 30,000-yr-old soil is apparently of global extent, and consistent in timing with inferred warm intervals elsewhere (e.g., Greenland, Europe, western and central China). At Birch Hill, replicate TL dating of primary loess combined with two earlier TL results from the same site, and with an earlier mean fission-track-glass-shard age of 140,000 ± 10,000 yr for the associated Old Crow tephra, yield a more precise numeric age of 142,300 ± 6600 yr for this Alaska/Yukon chronostratigraphic marker ash bed. Three of the TL ages at the Halfway House site are difficult to interpret, but combined with other evidence, they indicate: (1) the upper 5-6 m of loess from Halfway House is not part of the Gold Hill Loess (equivalent to pre-MIS 5 age) as long thought by T.L. Péwé, but rather is much younger; (2) the regionally significant variegated tephra, found in the Fairbanks and Klondike areas and previously thought to be older than MIS 5, has an age of 77,800 ± 4100 yr (late MIS 5).     

Late pleistocene (Devensian) glaciofluvial outwash at Banc-y-Warren,near Cardigan (west Wales)

On the southwest-facing slopes of a bedrock ridge lying between Cardigan Bay to the north and the Afon Teifi to the south stands a group of hills in which 30-35 m of cross-laminated and parallel-laminated sands with lenticular upward-fining gravel sequences are overlain by 10-12 m of gravel in a single foreset bed. The sediments mantle a surface of till sloping gently toward the southwest, were transported toward the southwest (across one margin of the Afon Teifi valley), and were cut by a system of densely arranged conjugate normal faults striking northwest-southeast. The lenticular gravels and fault system suggest that the deposits accumulated as a glaciofluvial outwash spread, and on top of an ice-lobe that became isolated in the Teifi valley during the downwasting of a glacier which had occupied Cardigan Bay and much of the country to the south. The large gravel foresets capping the succession are the only indication at Banc-y-Warren of the former existence of a lake, but neither a large nor deep body of water need be envisaged.     

New data on the pleistocene of Mallorca

Stratigraphic, geomorphologic and isoleucine epimerization studies at 15 sites in Mallorca define four aminozones (A, C, E and F-G) of increasing age that are related to transgressive-regressive marine cycles from the Holocene to the mid Pleistocene. Calibration of aminozone E (Glycymeris aIle/Ile mean from all sites = 0.41 ± 0.03 (n=38)) is provided by a 129 ± 7 ka U-series coral age on Cladocora caespitosa from Son Grauet. Of the younger aminozones, A relates to the Holocene transgression and aminozone C to a mid to late isotopic stage 5 event (90 ± 15 ka) revealed only by supralittoral eolianites. Assigning an age to the older, poorly resolved aminozones F and G (called F-G in this case) is uncertain without supporting radiometric data. But an age of > 180 ka can be assigned to these aminozone (s) F-G based on a kinetic model and other examples in the Mediterranean.Several deposits, previously dated (U-series, molluscs) between 75 and > 300 ka appear to belong to the last interglacial complex (Stage 5) and aminozone E. A proposed revision of the positive sea level history of Mallorca shows multiple minor oscillations during the major last interglacial cycle (Stage 5) and two mid Pleistocene sea levels, one lower than present and the other at about 14 m a.s.l.     

Radiothermoluminescence dating and applications to pleistocene sediments

The article sets out the main tasks facing researchers studying RTL dating and suggests various ways of accomplishing them, that have been developed in the departments of radiochemistry and geomorphology at Moscow State University. The questions under discussion are the formation of the age RTL lightsum in sedimentary rocks and its functional connection with dose-rate and zeroing of paleodosimeters. Methods of RTL dating developed and used by the authors are discussed in detail. The version the RTL method suggested is illustrated by the data concerning the age of the Dniestr terraces. The investigations lead to the conclusion that natural quartz can be employed as a thermoluminescence paleodosimeter for the determination of ages ranging from tens of thousands to 1–2 million years by using the high temperature peaks of the glow curve.     

Late pleistocene rock-basin lakes in South Wales

Laminated silts and clays recovered by coring and drilling in Swansea Bay are shown to be of lacustrine origin. Similar deposits penetrated by boreholes onshore in the Swansea area have also been ascribed to a lacustrine origin by several authors; a map showing the shape and distribution of five lakes in this area has been produced. Stratigraphic relationships and palynological evidence indicate that the lacustrine conditions probably lasted from about 16,000 to 10,000 years B.P.