Apparent thermoluminescence ages of St-Pierre Sediments at Pierreville, Quebec, and the problem of anomalous fading

Abstract

This work reports a case study in thermoluminescence (TL) dating in which a delayed measurements procedure has been used in order to circumvent the problem of anomalous fading in sediments. The procedure yielded an apparent TL age of 61.1 ± 9.2 ka for the polymineralic fraction of St-Pierre lacustrine sediments that corresponds to the apparent TL age of its quartz component and to the radiocarbon age of the unit. It is suggested that delayed measurements may overcome the problem of anomalous fading in the TL dating of sediments