Residual luminescence in modern debris flow deposits from western Taiwan: A single grain approach

In an active fold-and-thrust belt, sediment is commonly transported in the form of debris and colluviums, and the ages of such deposits can be important for seismic hazard assessment. These sediments are mainly transported by high concentration flows that travel very short distances before burial, and therefore have very few opportunities for daylight exposure and bleaching, which limits the application of luminescence dating in such environments. Luminescence studies on modern debris flow deposits and channel sediments in central Taiwan indicate a mixed population of bleached and unbleached grains. The well bleached grains constitute a small proportion of the sediments and could only be identified using the single grain dating technique; doing single aliquot analysis may result in overestimation of the age of such sediments by 3–25 ka. The data reveal that outwash sediments are better bleached than debris flow sediments. Our results show that quartz that has experienced partial resetting can be used for luminescence dating only through the use of the single grain technique.