Interpreting luminescence data from a portable OSL reader: three case studies in fluvial settings |
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| Authors: | Esperanza Muñoz‐Salinas Paul Bishop David CW Sanderson Jose‐Juan Zamorano |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK;2. Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, UK;3. Department of Physical Geography, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico |
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| Abstract: | Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is a technique that has been applied from the mid‐1980s, mainly for sediment dating. The OSL technique is based on sample stimulation by light to determine the luminescence signal that is stored in the crystal lattices of sediment grains after deposition, burial by later sediment and subsequent exposure to ionizing radiation from radioactive elements in the surrounding sediment. In such sediment dating, two parameters are required: the equivalent dose (i.e. the luminescence signal stored in the grains), and the dose rate (i.e. the ionizing energy from α, β and γ radiation emitted by naturally occurring radioisotopes in the deposit, plus the effects of cosmic radiation). In this research, the OSL technique is not used for dating. The study goal is to analyse only the luminescence signals (the total photon counts) in polymineral samples obtained after light stimulation in the blue (BLSL) and infrared (IRSL) wavelengths using a portable OSL reader designed and built at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC). Three fluvial case studies – from Cambodia, Australia and Mexico – are used to illustrate the geomorphological interpretations possible with the portable OSL reader data from sediments resulting from a range of different depositional processes. The case studies show that aspects of sediment's transport and depositional processes can be inferred from the portable OSL reader data, providing valuable insights into geomorphological history. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | optically stimulated luminescence BLSL/IRSL signal total photon counts fluvial depositional processes portable OSL reader |
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