Luminescence dating tests of detrital grains from sediment traps, Andvord Bay and Brialmont Cove, Antarctic Peninsula

Difficulties (e.g., large, diverse, erratic reservoir corrections) with radiocarbon dating have prompted photonic dating tests on Antarctic glacial marine sediments. This technique (clock zeroing is based on the last exposure to daylight of quartz and feldspar grains) was applied to modern-age sediments collected in two well-characterized fjords on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our deployed sediment traps collected approximately 14 months of deposition between January 2002 and March 2003. We conducted a series of multi-aliquot infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) tests on polymineral silt-sized grains to evaluate the extent of the clock-zeroing process in this setting, to provide a foundation for applications elsewhere in the region. Comparisons were made between samples on the basis of seasonal differences and trap depth. Several double single-aliquot-regenerative (SAR) dose experiments were also performed on one of the sediment trap samples. Sediments representing summer and winter deposition were also characterized by microprobe analyses. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...