Testing single-grain quartz OSL methods using sediment samples with independent age control from the Bordes-Fitte rockshelter (Roches d'Abilly site,Central France)

We present quartz single-grain dose distributions for four well-bleached and unmixed sediment samples with independent age control (22–48 ka), from the archaeologically important Bordes-Fitte rockshelter at Roches d'Abilly, France. This site has previously been dated using ¹⁴C AMS dating and standard multi-grain OSL dating using both quartz and feldspar. The effect of rejection criteria usually employed in single-grain dating on dose and over-dispersion is tested using both laboratory irradiated samples and natural samples. It is shown that had these samples been analysed in the absence of other age control, standard modelling decisions based on the shape of single-grain dose distributions would have led to significant misinterpretation of results and a corresponding >40% underestimation in age. If we instead ignore this standard decision process and apply weighted average and mixing models then the most likely results deviate from the expected ages by >10%. Finally, we show that by careful consideration of the luminescence characteristics of individual grains, we are able to obtain good agreement with the independent age control by applying alternative rejection criteria but this is at the cost of reducing the accepted grain population by more than an order of magnitude, with the corresponding inevitable decrease in precision.     

土壤年代学方法及其应用

本文较详细地介绍和论述了土壤年代学方法及其测年原理，以及该方法的国内外研究现状和发展应用前景．作者将该方法的基本思路引入榆木山和阿尔金山山前地区的活动构造测年工作，并初步建立了土壤ＣａＯ、ＣａＣＯ３和ＣａＣＯ３累积指数值与发育年代之间的定量计算关系式，统计得到了土壤中砾石钙膜的平均累积速率．通过回检和应用对比分析，认为土壤年代学方法适用于中国西北地区，并具有广阔的应用前景．     

云贵高原碳酸盐岩风化壳的古地磁定年探讨

云贵高原乃至中国残积型红土及红土性风化壳的形成年代是一个长期以来悬而未决的问题.本文以云贵高原厚度分别为9.47m和5.4m的两个碳酸盐岩风化剖面为例,探讨了古地磁方法在碳酸盐岩风化剖面定年中的应用.古地磁定年结果初步表明,其发育时间在布容正极性世内,即两个风化壳剖面的发育年龄不会大于0.78Ma B.P..此外,对古地磁方法应用于碳酸盐岩风化剖面定年中可能存在的问题进行了讨论,其中包括风化壳的成因、风化过程中的体积变化、母岩的岩石磁性、磁性载体矿物及其记录磁信号的稳定性等问题.     

北大别山肖畈岩体地球化学特征和锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb同位素定年

本文对肖畈岩体进行了系统的锆石U-Pb定年、岩石全分析测试,认为该岩体化学成分具超酸、富碱、弱过铝和贫钠富钾等特点,属超酸性富碱钾玄岩系列岩浆岩。岩石轻稀土明显富集,重稀土亏损,(La/Yb)N在10.65~20.53之间,δEu负异常中等,稀土元素分布曲线为左高右平倾斜的"U"字型,属后碰撞花岗岩类,与东秦岭—大别钼多金属成矿带中富钼中酸性小岩体地球化学特征一致。利用LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年测得肖畈岩体似斑状花岗岩体的加权平均年龄值为139.30±0.64 Ma(2σ,n=12,MSWD=1.3),代表岩体的结晶年龄。研究认为肖畈岩体不是灵山花岗岩基同源岩浆演化的产物,它们分属两期岩浆活动,依据如下:1肖畈岩体成岩年龄早于灵山岩体近10 Ma;2肖畈岩体来源于下地壳相对高温高压岩浆源区,不可能由灵山岩体(低温岩浆)分异而成。肖畈岩体形成的地球动力学背景为中生代构造体制转换及其后伸展机制下岩石圈大规模拆沉减薄而引起的岩浆活动。地壳拆沉,幔源物质上侵,含斜长石一角闪石-石榴子石-辉石的高压麻粒岩下地壳部分熔融,形成肖畈深源浅成型富钼(铜)花岗岩体。     

安徽肥东桥头集南西第四纪断层活动习性

肥东桥头集一带分布有北西走向第四纪断层,由于露头罕见,对其第四纪以来活动性所知甚少,为了探索其新活动性,作者近期对这一地区进行了详细的调查工作。在肥东桥头集南西上白垩统中发现了断层露头,通过现场详细调查编录、断层物质测龄和定向微观分析,对断层的活动期次、活动时代、活动性质和滑移特性等断层的活动习性进行了综合分析和研究。结果显示,晚更新世以来,所在地区曾发生过3次构造变动事件,活动时代分别距今（11.02±0.55）万年、（9.53±0.57）万年和（7.72±0.46）万年。活动性质以走滑为主,兼有张裂或挤压;滑移特性以粘滑为主,兼有蠕滑。     

Preliminary ESR dating results on loess samples from the loess–paleosol sequence at Luochuan, Central Loess Plateau, China

The quartz Al centre has been used in pioneering studies for ESR dating of sediments. Acceptable age estimates could be obtained for a range of deposits using this centre after estimating the residual level. To inspect the feasibility and reliability of ESR dating of windblown sediments, six loess samples from the loess–paleosol sequences of Luochuan profile on central Loess Plateau, China, were dated by ESR with regeneration method using the quartz Al centre measured at 115 K. The samples were exposed to sunlight for 430 h. Only about 25% signal intensity was bleached. According to our preliminary results, ESR age estimates increased with the depth along the loess profile, however, the ESR age of each sample is only about a half of the reference age of the corresponding strata. For example, the ESR age of a sample from the top of L₈ loess near B/M boundary (a known age of 780 ka) yields an age of only 385 ka. It seems that ESR dating using quartz Al centre with dose regeneration protocol may have the potential for dating of loess and other aeolian deposits, but the studies on the nature of the quartz Al centre and experiment protocols have to be studied further.     

河北寿王坟铜矿黄铜矿铷锶同位素年龄测定及其成矿意义

本文以黄铜矿及其共生矿物为定年对象,采用亚样品取样和铷锶等时线定年方法测定了寿王坟铜矿的成矿时代.分析测试获得黄铜矿 黄铁矿单矿物组合的等时线年龄113.6Ma,黄铜矿 夕卡岩组合的等时线年龄112.3Ma和黄铜矿 黄铁矿 夕卡岩组合的等时线年龄115.0Ma.对比同一矿石亚样品,认为河北寿王坟夕卡岩型铜矿成矿时代为111.0Ma.实验表明,采用矿石亚样品取样方法和直接测定金属硫化物单矿物铷-锶同位素年龄可以有效地确定矿床成矿时代.     

秦岭南缘勉略构造带小碥河—长坝地区变质地层碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄及地质意义

南秦岭勉略构造带小碥河-长坝地区发育一套时代有争议的低角闪岩相变质沉积地层。由于该变质沉积地层受到了强烈变质和变形作用的改造,且缺少精确的年代学证据,在以往的地质研究和地质图中将其形成时代划归为古元古代、早古生代、志留纪-三叠纪、泥盆纪、泥盆纪-石炭纪等。笔者以该区的变质碎屑岩为研究对象,进行LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年代学研究,完成锆石测点一个样品共计80个,获得小碥河-长坝地区的变质地层主要碎屑锆石年龄为850~658 Ma,最小年龄加权平均值为（576.5±12.4）Ma。结合前人资料,认为小碥河-长坝地区变质地层的沉积时代主体应为早古生代;物源主要来自勉略构造带内部火山岩、碧口微地块及扬子地块西北缘新元古代岩浆岩;其沉积事件对应了勉略构造带及扬子地块西北缘地区早古生代伸展裂陷沉积过程。     

Quaternary evolution of the intermontane Val d'Agri Basin, Southern Apennines

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) enables the chronology of the late Pleistocene evolution for the Val d'Agri intermontane basin of Southern Apennines to be defined in the frame of Mediterranean geodynamic and climate changes. Quartz sand from braided floodplain and alluvial fan depositional systems was analyzed using the coarse-grained, single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) technique. The obtained optical ages are mostly consistent with other assessments (radiocarbon, tephrochronology) and stratigraphic constraints. OSL allows for the dating to 56–43 ka of an asymmetric subsidence stage that forced alluvial fan progradation, filling of a former lacustrine area, and development of an axial alluvial plain. A short period of Mediterranean-type pedogenesis, recorded at the top of the prograding-aggrading fans (OSL age bracket 43–32 ka), corresponds with MIS 3. During the subsequent stage of decline of vegetation cover, possibly corresponding to MIS 2, the latest progradation of alluvial fans occurred. The subsequent uplift and breakthrough of the basin threshold during the latest Pleistocene and Holocene induced entrenchment of the drainage network. The results presented here provide an example of the usefulness of OSL dating in intermontane continental settings where other geochronological constraints are scarce.     

Two millennia of glacier advances from southern Iceland dated by tephrochronology

Two glaciers at Eyjafjallajökull, south Iceland, provide a record of multiple episodes of glacier advance since the Sub-Atlantic period, ca. 2000 yr ago. A combination of tephrochronology and lichenometry was applied to date ice-marginal moraines, tills and meltwater deposits. Two glacier advances occurred before the 3rd century AD, others in the 9th and 12th centuries bracketing the Medieval Warm Period, and five groups of advances occurred between AD 1700 and 1930, within the Little Ice Age. The advances of Eyjafjallajökull before the Norse settlement (ca. AD 870) were synchronous with other glacier advances identified in Iceland. In contrast, medieval glacier advances between the 9th and 13th centuries are firmly identified for the first time in Iceland. This challenges the view of a prolonged Medieval Warm Period and supports fragmentary historical data that indicate significant medieval episodes of cooler and wetter conditions in Iceland. An extended and more detailed glacier chronology of the mid- and late Little Ice Age is established, which demonstrates that some small outlet glaciers achieved their Little Ice Age maxima around AD 1700. While Little Ice Age advances across Iceland appear to synchronous, the timing of the maximum differs between glacier type and region.