Single Aliquot Regeneration (SAR) Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Protocols Using Dierent Grain-Sizes of Quartz: Revisiting the Chronology of Mircea Voda Loess-Paleosol Master Section (Romania)

The loess-paleosol archive from Mircea Voda (Romania) represents one of the most studied
sections in Europe. We are applying here the current state of the art luminescence dating protocols
for revisiting the chronology of this section. Analysis were performed on fine (4–11 m) and
coarse (63–90 m) quartz extracts using the single aliquot regenerative (SAR) optically stimulated
luminescence (OSL) dating protocol. Laboratory generated SAR dose response curves in the high dose
range (5 kGy for fine quartz and 2 kGy for coarse quartz) were investigated by employing a test dose
of either 17 or 170 Gy. The results confirm the previously reported dierent saturation characteristics
of the two quartz fractions, with no evident dependency of the equivalent dose (De) on the size of
the test dose. The OSL SAR ages are discussed and compared to the previously obtained results on
quartz and feldspars. The previous reports regarding the chronological discrepancy between the two
quartz fractions are confirmed. However, while previous investigations on other sites concluded that
this discrepancy appears only above equivalent doses of about 100 Gy, here fine grain quartz ages
underestimate coarse quartz ages starting with equivalent doses as low as around 50 Gy.