OSL dating of coarse-grain fluvial quartz using single-aliquot protocols on sediments from NE Peloponnese, Greece

Optical ages of quartz extracts in Holocene sediments from the north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece, are reported. The single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol proposed by Murray and Wintle (2000, Radiation Measurements 32, 57-73) was used to estimate the equivalent dose in these samples. A large inter-aliquot scatter in D-E values was observed for all samples; this is ascribed to heterogeneous bleaching of the samples at deposition. To estimate a D-E for age calculation, a technique is suggested based on the analysis of the D-E scatter obtained from nine different quartz samples which were artificially bleached and irradiated. This procedure is especially useful when the sample quantity is limited. The optical age estimates increase with sampling depth. An average aggradation rate of 1.5 mm/yr is derived using the OSL ages; this value is consistent with the known uplift rate of 1-2 mm/yr. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.