CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Cullen, J.R.; Olav, L.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 : Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting and Conference. May 31-June 4, 2011. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.
Issue : Program and Abstract Volume.
Page(s) : 72.
Abstract
Potassium feldspar and a multiple-aliquot technique had been used almost exclusively to provide reliable age information for sand dune development in the prairie dryland regions of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta. Recently, a standard protocol of the single-aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) method has been tested at University of the Fraser Valley on quartz extracted from a series of sand dunes and loess deposits in the Alberta Foothills. These features are important in that they contain charcoal and tephra beds that provide well-constrained independent ages that can be used to test our dating methods. Preliminary experiments using the standard SAR technique and quartz yielded optical ages that significantly underestimated the independent ages [2]. To determine an optimal optical dating protocol for the area, quartz and feldspar minerals were isolated from new samples taken above and below known-age tephra beds. The standard SAR protocol used in the initial trials was modified by changing various measurement temperatures (i.e. the preheat, cutheat and read temperatures) for siltsized feldspar, and coarse-sized quartz and feldspar. The ages determined from these new samples showed significant improvement over those acquired from the original samples.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology