Luminescence dating of proglacial sediments from the Eastern Alps

The potential of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) for dating proglacial deposits is tested here at three last glacial key sites in the Eastern Alps. This was undertaken using both sand-sized feldspar and quartz grains as well as fine silt-sized material. The samples reveal rather poor luminescence intensities of the investigated quartz grains and it is also clearly demonstrated that several of the deposits were incompletely bleached prior to deposition. Bleaching experiments were carried out and different approaches for extracting the aliquots where the OSL was completely bleached prior to burial were tested. Applying different OSL measurement techniques and analytical procedures, we investigated which approach was most appropriate for dating known age proglacial sediments. Best results were achieved using Single-Aliquot Regenerative-Dose methodology on coarse grain quartz and feldspar samples, in combination with the approach of Preusser et al. [2007. Luminescence dating of proglacial sediments from Switzerland. Boreas, in press] for ED calculation. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.