Application of newly developed NCF-SAR protocol to Quaternary sediments from Suncheon and Jeongok, South Korea

Abstract

Present study is an attempt to test the applicability of recently developed natural sensitivity corrected single aliquot regeneration (NCF-SAR) protocol for samples from archaeological sites of South Korea. The protocol monitors the sensitivity change during measurement of natural OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) signal and provides a methodology to correct for it. The natural OSL signals in the quartz samples from Suncheon (fluvial) and Jeongok (aeolian) sites were either in dose saturation region or lying well above the luminescence dose response curve, suggesting the possibility of sensitivity changes during natural OSL signal measurements. These samples thus provide opportunity to test the NCF-SAR protocol. The results suggest that, for the samples examined in this study, there are significant sensitivity changes during the natural OSL signal measurements. The ratio of TL (Thermoluminescence) peaks before and after natural OSL measurement was used to correct for the sensitivity changes. The dose distribution obtained using NCF had less scatter. However, in some cases, even the NCF correction could not resolve the issue of natural signal lying above saturation dose, indicating some other unidentified factors are also responsible for this oversaturation of quartz OSL signal.