Earth’s Cryosphere, 2011, Vol. XV, No. 4, p. 99-103

ADVANCED THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING OF PERMAFROST: A NEW APPROACH

V.S. Sheinkman, V.P. Melnikov

Institute of Earth’s Cryosphere, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PO box 1230, Tyumen, 625000, Russia; vlad.sheinkman@mail.ru

Precise age determination is an important tool to study frozen ground as it can be used, through extrapolation, to reconstruct the history of permafrost and to predict its future evolution. However, precise dating is difficult because the classical age methods designed for a narrow time span and a limited number of rock types are inapplicable to permafrost. Having compared several recent techniques, we selected advanced thermoluminescence dating as a procedure best appropriate for frozen ground. The present paper concerns with the dating technology, advantages of the new approach, and testing results.