A luminescence dating study of the upper part of the loess-palaeosol sequence at kuldara, Khovaling Loess Plateau, Tajikistan
Buylaert J.-P. Challier A. Kulakova E.P. Taratunina N.A. Thomsen K.J. Utkina A.O. Sosin P.M. Tokareva O.A. Anoikin A.A. Khujageldiev T.U. A C.K. Ubaydulloev N.K. Murray A.S. Kurbanov R.N.
June 2024Elsevier B.V.
Quaternary Geochronology
2024#82
The aim of this study was to develop an independent luminescence chronology for the upper part of the important Loess Palaeolithic site at Kuldara (Khovaling Loess Plateau, Tajikistan). We applied high sampling-depth resolution (n = 85) luminescence dating to the upper ∼26 m of the sequence from loess L4 to pedocomplex PC0. Luminescence characteristics of the post-IR200 IRSL290 signal from coarse-silt polymineral grains are satisfactory (reproducible growth and good dose recovery). Comparison with quartz OSL for samples <50 ka and results from modern analogues (Challier et al. these proceedings) shows that the pIRIR200,290 signal is, as expected, sufficiently bleached at deposition. The luminescence chronology extends back to ∼250 ka and shows distinct erosional hiatuses ranging in duration from ∼15 ka to a full glacial-interglacial cycle (∼100 ka); some of these breaks were not identifiable in the field. We suggest an upper dating limit of 2.5xDc; this yields minimum ages of ∼300 ka for this material. Dust Accumulation Rates (DAR) are reconstructed for the Late Pleistocene (from ∼100 to ∼40 ka) and reveal, next to several minor dust accumulation peaks, two major peaks at the end of MIS5 (∼75 ka) and at MIS3b (∼40 ka). We conclude that detailed post-IR200 IRSL290 dating of loess-palaeosol sequences in Tajikistan is necessary to exploit fully the potential of this important terrestrial (dust) record.
Aeolian dust , Central Asia , Dust accumulation rate , Hiatus , Late Quaternary , Loess-palaeosol sequences , OSL , Tajikistan
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
A. Donish Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Tajikistan
Research Center for Geochronology and Isotope Analysis, Korea Basic Science Institute, South Korea
Institute of Water Resources, Hydropower and Ecology, National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Tajikistan
Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran
National Museum of Kazakhstan, Astana, Kazakhstan
Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating, Aarhus University and Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Department of Physics
A. Donish Institute of History
Research Center for Geochronology and Isotope Analysis
Institute of Water Resources
Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources
National Museum of Kazakhstan
Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026