Luminescence and radiocarbon chronologies of playa sedimentation in the Murray Basin, southeastern Australia

Abstract

Playa lakes are important palaeoenvironmental repositories in arid landscapes. As geochemically open and organically poor systems, however, accurate dating of playa sequences is often hampered. This study paired accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages from four Murray Basin playa lakes to assess the accuracy of the chronometric techniques in these environments. The OSL dating directed the sampling strategy, which targeted sandier sections of the playa lacustrine sequences. These appear to comprise aeolian-derived fine quartzose sand, ensuring the effective resetting of the luminescence signals prior to deposition. In contrast, the ..