Special Issue on the Theme Sessions “Tephra and its Datings”
Thermoluminescence dating of marker tephras during the past 100,000 years in Japan
2013 Volume 52 Issue 4 Pages 139-150
Details
2013 Volume 52 Issue 4 Pages 139-150
Tephra can be a powerful tool, providing important information for Quaternary studies. Nevertheless, a great need exists for a dataset of numerical ages of Quaternary tephra.
Thermoluminescence (TL) dating of tephras of the past 100,000 years was conducted in this study. This report presents a summary of the TL dating results along with descriptions of the sample used for TL measurement and the dose-dependence of the detection wavelength. Results show that the obtained TL ages are fairly consistent with the tephrostratigraphy. Moreover, TL ages of marker tephras during the last 30,000 years show good agreement with the calibrated carbon-14 (14C) ages. Continuous examination of both TL and 14C dating can enhance the reliability of numerical age estimates of Quaternary tephra.
Additional research on numerical age determination including crosschecking is expected to clarify the chronology of Quaternary tephras.
