CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Cullen, J.R.; Lian, O.B.; and Wolfe, S.A.
Date : 2011.
Title : Determining the optimal protocol for optical dating of eolian landforms in the Foothills of Southern Alberta.
Publication : 2011 Annual Meeting of the Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers. March 10-12, 2011. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
Eolian landforms of Holocene age in the prairie dryland regions of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta have been extensively dated using optical dating in order to establish periods of landscape stability and instability, some of which have been associated with short and long term fluctuations in climate. Previously, potassium feldspar and a multiple-aliquot technique were used exclusively to provide reliable age information. A standard protocol of the single-aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) method has recently been tested on quartz from samples taken in the Alberta Foothills that are well constrained by many independent ages derived from tephra and radiocarbon dates on charcoal. However, these SAR optical ages significantly underestimated the independent ages. To determine an optimal optical dating protocol for the area, quartz was isolated from new samples taken above and below the tephra beds at one location. The standard SAR protocol used for dating the original quartz samples was modified by changing various measurement temperatures (i.e. the preheat, cutheat and read temperatures) to determine the best quartz protocol for quartz sediment in the region. The ages determined from these new samples, using the new measurement protocol, showed sig-nificant improvement over those acquired from the original samples.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology