Testing the potential of OSL, TT-OSL, IRSL and post-IR IRSL luminescence dating on a Middle Pleistocene sediment record of Lake El'gygytgyn, Russia
Abstract. Lake El'gygytgyn is a 12 km wide crater lake located in remote Chukotka in the far East Russian Arctic about 100 km to the north of the Arctic Circle. It was formed by a meteorite impact about 3.58 Ma ago. This study tests the paleomagnetic and proxy data-based Mid- to Late-Pleistocene sediment deposition history using novel luminescence dating techniques of sediment cores taken from the centre of the 175 m deep lake. For dating polymineral and quartz fine grains (4–11 μm grain size range) were extracted from nine different levels from the upper 28 m of sediment cores 5011-1A and 5011-1B. Polymineral sub-samples were analysed by infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and post-IR infra-red stimulated luminescence (post-IR IRSL) using single aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) sequences. SAR protocols were further applied to measure the blue light optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermally-transferred OSL (TT-OSL) of fine-grained quartz supplemented by a multiple aliquot TT-OSL approach. According to an independent age model, the lowest sample from 27.8–27.9 m below lake bottom level correlates to the Brunhes-Matuyama (B/M) reversal. Finally, the SAR post-IR-IRSL protocol applied to polymineral fine grains was the only luminescence technique able to provide dating results of acceptable accuracy up to ca. 700 ka. Major factors limiting precision and accuracy of the luminescence chronology are, for some samples, natural signals already approaching saturation level, and overall the uncertainty related to the sediment water content and its variations over geological times.