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Luminescence, Soils

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Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods

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Definition

Luminescence dating measures the time since quartz and feldspar mineral grains were last exposed to light. Dating soils with this method quantify the last time mineral grains sampled from within soil profiles were at the ground surface.

Soils can be defined in many different ways depending on the environmental context. For the purposes of this application, soils are defined as colluvial material produced from underlying parent material and being transported by various physical processes. Windblown soils, agricultural soils, and deep chemical weathering profiles are not considered here.

Introduction

Hilly upland landscapes are cloaked in a thin layer of soil derived primarily from the underlying parent material (Carson and Kirkby 1972; Dietrich et al. 1995; Heimsath et al. 1997) (Fig. 1). Understanding how the Earth’s surface evolves under changing climatic, tectonic, or human land-use forces thus includes understanding how these physically mobile upland soils are produced...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, 781 Terrace Rd., 85287, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Arjun M. Heimsath

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  1. Arjun M. Heimsath
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Correspondence to Arjun M. Heimsath .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    W. Jack Rink

  2. Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Jeroen Thompson

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Heimsath, A.M. (2014). Luminescence, Soils. In: Rink, W., Thompson, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_196-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_196-3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6326-5

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