Luminescence dating has grown considerably in importance over the last decade; it now provides the chronological framework for much of our understanding of ice advances and retreats over the last glacial cycle of about 130 ka. This in turn has allowed the testing of climate models against field-based data, but only over one major oscillation in the Earth’s climate. If we are to improve our understanding of long-term forcing mechanisms, and so develop confidence in our climate models, we must be able to extend this field data set further back in time over one or more previous glacial cycles. One of the biggest difficulties in this process is the establishment of a reliable chronology. The aim in this project is to extend the age range of samples that can be dated by luminescence to beyond the current limit of about 150 ka (arising from saturation in the quartz OSL dose response curve at around 200 Gy). Research is focussed on the dosimetry characteristics of feldspar and quartz minerals.
The focus of this research is towards developing and testing new methods in the two commonly available natural dosimeters, quartz and feldspars. In quartz, research is carried out towards sampling deep traps using UV, high temperature thermoluminescence or charge transfer mechanisms (e.g. thermally transferred OSL). In feldspar the main focus is towards tackling the anomalous fading problem, using different signals and numerical modelling of the fading process.