Influence of Na-feldspar grains within the K-feldspar fraction on sediments IRSL dating

Abstract

The post-Infrared Infrared Stimulated Luminescence (pIRIR) protocol has been successfully applied to date Quaternary sediments using the K-rich feldspar fraction (density ＜2.58 g/cm3). However, during the extraction of K-feldspar grains, Na-feldspar particles (density 2.58–2.62 g/cm3) may be included, especially within the medium grained fraction. However, the possible influence of Na-feldspar contamination on K-feldspar IRSL dating results has not been investigated in detail. In this study, we applied the pIRIR dating protocol to measure the coarse- and medium-grained K-and Na-feldspar fractions of eight aeolian samples from various regions. Blue-violet and yellow-green detection windows were used for derived the signals of K- and Na-feldspar, respectively, and we attempted to evaluate the influence of the contamination by Na-feldspar grains on feldspar pIRIR dating. Comparison of the three signals (K-feldspar blue, Na-feldspar blue, Na-feldspar yellow) from each sample showed that the influence of the IRSL blue signal from Na-feldspar grains on the signal of the K-feldspar fraction was < 1–3%. Because of high fading rates, the Des or pIRIR ages obtained from the Na-feldspar yellow signal were underestimated. The Na-feldspar blue pIRIR Des and ages were nevertheless consistent with their corresponding K-feldspar blue De values and ages. This is because the few K-feldspar grains included within the Na-feldspar fraction emitted the greater part of the blue signals. From these observations, we conclude that the influence of Na-feldspar grains within the K-feldspar fraction on K-feldspar IRSL dating results can be ignored.