Chances and challenges in dating tephra marker horizons by luminescence dating techniques

Abstract

Tephra layers are excellent time markers in paleoenvironmental archives. These can be used for correlation between different archives and give stratigraphic control independent of the applied dating techniques. Terrestrial archives such as loess-paleosol sequences are often dated by luminescence or radiocarbon dating, depending on the material available. While radiocarbon dating is only applicable for younger timescales, luminescence ages overcome this problem to a certain extent. However, they are accompanied by wider errors that are often too imprecise for some geochronological and paleoenvironmental questions. It is thus often useful to apply different dating techniques to cross-validate their results. Since tephra layers can sometimes be dated directly and very precisely (e.g. by 40Ar/39Ar dating), they can be used as a reference to validate the results of other chronological methods such as luminescence dating.
Here, we present the Stalać and the Urluia loess-paleosol sequences and their geochronological investigations. The Stalać section in southern Serbia contains the “L2-Tephra” and a cryptotephra related to the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y-5 tephra (cf. Bösken et al., 2017; Obreht et al., 2016). The L2-Tephra is preserved in several loess-paleosol sequences in southeastern Europe (cf. Laag et al., INTAV conference abstract). Its labelling is related to its deposition within the L2 loess package, usually correlated to marine isotope stage 6 (e.g. Marković et al., 2015). Furthermore, also the Urluia section contains the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y-5 tephra (Obreht et al., 2017) that is widely distributed in southeastern Europe (e.g. Fitzsimmons et al., 2013) and dated to 39.85 ± 0.14 ka (Giaccio et al., 2017). This contribution identifies challenges in dating tephra layers by luminescence dating techniques and highlights its possibilities and prospects.

References
Bösken, J., Klasen, N., Zeeden, C., Obreht, I., Markovic, S.B., Hambach, U., Lehmkuhl, F., 2017. New luminescence-based geochronology framing the last two glacial cycles at the southern limit of European Pleistocene loess in Stalać. Geochronometria 44, 150–161. https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0062
Fitzsimmons, K.E., Hambach, U., Veres, D., Iovita, R., 2013. The Campanian Ignimbrite Eruption: New Data on Volcanic Ash Dispersal and Its Potential Impact on Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8, e65839. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065839
Giaccio, B., Hajdas, I., Isaia, R., Deino, A., Nomade, S., 2017. High-precision 14C and 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Campanian Ignimbrite (Y-5) reconciles the time-scales of climatic-cultural processes at 40 ka. Sci Rep 7, 45940. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep45940
Laag, C., Hambach, U., Botezatu, A., Baykal, Y., Veres, D., Schönwetter, T., Viola, J., Zeeden, C., Radaković, M., Obreht, I., Jovanović, M., Bösken, J., Lehmkuhl, F., Marković, S.B., 2018. The geographical extent of the “L2-Tephra”: a widespread marker horizon for the penultimate glacial (MIS 6) on the Balkan Peninsula. INTAV conference abstract.
Marković, S.B., Stevens, T., Kukla, G.J., Hambach, U., Fitzsimmons, K.E., Gibbard, P., Buggle, B., Zech, M., Guo, Z., Hao, Q., Wu, H., O’Hara Dhand, K., Smalley, I.J., Újvári, G., Sümegi, P., Timar-Gabor, A., Veres, D., Sirocko, F., Vasiljević, D.A., Jary, Z., Svensson, A., Jović, V., Lehmkuhl, F., Kovács, J., Svirčev, Z., 2015. Danube loess stratigraphy - Towards a pan-European loess stratigraphic model. Earth-Science Reviews 148, 228–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.06.005
Obreht, I., Hambach, U., Veres, D., Zeeden, C., Bösken, J., Stevens, T., Marković, S.B., Klasen, N., Brill, D., Burow, C., Lehmkuhl, F., 2017. Shift of large-scale atmospheric systems over Europe during late MIS 3 and implications for Modern Human dispersal. Scientific Reports 7, 5848. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06285-x
Obreht, I., Zeeden, C., Hambach, U., Veres, D., Marković, S.B., Bösken, J., Svirčev, Z., Bačević, N., Gavrilov, M.B., Lehmkuhl, F., 2016. Tracing the influence of Mediterranean climate on Southeastern Europe during the past 350,000 years. Scientific Reports 6, 36334. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep36334

Resources

• Bösken et al. intav 2018_169.pdf

Bibliography

Bösken, J., Klasen, N., Obreht, I., Hambach, U., Veres, D., Zeeden, C., Markovic, S., Burow, C., Brill, D., Pötter, S., Lehmkuhl, F. (2018): Chances and challenges in dating tephra marker horizons by luminescence dating techniques. INQUA–INTAV International Field Conference and Workshop, Crossing New Frontiers - Tephra Hunt in Transylvania 24.-29.06.2018