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OSL dating of an inland dune along the lower River Scheldt near Aard (East Flanders, Belgium)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

F. Bogemans*
Affiliation:
Flemish Heritage Institute(VIOE), Koning Albert II-laan 19 bus 5, 1210 Brussel, Belgium. Present address: Belgian Geological Survey, Jennerstraat 13, 1000 Brussel
D. Vandenberghe*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Mineralogy and Petrology (Luminescence Research Group), Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 (S8), B-9000 Gent, Belgium

Abstract

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The chronostratigraphic position of aeolian dunes in East Flanders (Belgium) has been under debate for decades. Until now, the only available age information consisted of a limited number of radiocarbon dates, which provided indirect sediment deposition chronologies. This paper reports on the first direct determination, by quartz-based single-aliquot optically stimulated luminescence dating, of the time that dune sands were deposited along the Lower River Scheldt in Belgium. The sediments are dated at 12.0±0.9 ka (n = 5), which confirms that the time of inland dune formation in East Flanders dates from the Younger Dryas period and should not be constrained to the Holocene.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2011

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