The natural thermoluminescence of meteorites VI: Carbon-14, thermoluminescence and the terrestrial ages of meteorites

Abstract Research on meteorite finds, especially those from the Antarctic and from desert regions in Australia, Africa, and America, has become increasingly important, notably in studies of possible changes in the nature of the meteorite flux in the past. One important piece of information needed in the study of such meteorites is their terrestrial age which can be determined using a variety of methods, including ¹⁴C, ³⁶Cl, and ⁸¹Kr. Natural thermoluminescence (TL) levels in meteorites can also be used as an indicator of terrestrial age. In this paper, we compare ¹⁴C-determined terrestrial ages with natural TL levels in finds from the Prairie States (central United States), a group of finds from Roosevelt County (New Mexico, USA), and a group from the Sahara Desert. We find that, in general, the natural TL data are compatible with the ¹⁴C-derived terrestrial ages using a 20 °C TL decay curve for the Prairie States and Roosevelt County and a 30 °C decay curve for the Saharan meteorites. We also present TL data for a group of meteorites from the Sahara desert which has not been studied using cosmogenic radionuclides. Within these data there are distinct terrestrial age clusters which probably reflect changes in meteorite preservation efficiency over ～ 15, 000 years in the region.