Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 February 2017
Studies of thermoluminescence emission from lunar samples show that at lunar day surface temperatures and even at 18°C the trapped electron responsible are decaying to their ground states by a non-thermal process. Data from various workers show similar characteristics with respect to this process. They show that thermoluminescence cannot be used as a technique for dating lunar samples (or terrestrial plagioclases) over any significant geological period. A quantitative model for the non-thermal process is proposed.