Radiofluorescence dating (IR-RF): Towards a suitable dating method for quaternary sediments.

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In Quaternary and paleoenvironmental sciences, sediments represent an important natural archive for reconstructing past climates and their environments. In this context, the establishment of numerical chronologies is of crucial importance, because they (1) allow to date the paleoenvironmental period and event of interest, (2) give insight into past dynamics of climate and paleoenvironmental change, and they (3) allow to correlate between different environmental archives. To successfully establish the needed numerical chronologies, luminescence dating techniques are of major importance.Luminescence dating techniques are dominantly applied to sediments of the Late Quaternary, whereas sediments of the Middle Quaternary are due to methodological challenges, so far difficult to date. An alternative and innovative dating approach is represented by infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) of feldspars, which could successfully be applied in preliminary studies to sediments of various environmental settings. During preliminary studies by the applicant, various technical and methodological problems of the IR-RF dating method could be solved, but also new methodological challenges arose.In this proposal, the applicant will deal with the still open, as well as the newly arose methodological challenges, to establish a suitable IR-RF dating protocol for Quaternary sediments. The protocols are thought to be developed for the monomineralic coarse grain fraction (> 63 µm), as well as for the polymineralic fine grain fraction (4-11 µm). The suitability of the developed protocols will be tested and validated against sediment samples with independent age control.