Infrared Radiofluorescence (IR-RF) of K-Feldspar: An Interlaboratory Comparison

Infrared Radiofluorescence (IR-RF) is a relatively new method for dosimetric dating of the depositional timing of sediments. This contribution presents an interlaboratory comparison of IR-RF measurements of sedimentary feldspar from eight laboratories. A comparison of the variability of instrumental background, bleaching, saturation, and initial rise behaviour of the IR-RF signal was carried out. Two endmember samples, a naturally bleached modern dune sand sample with a zero dose and a naturally saturated sample from a Triassic sandstone (~250 Ma), were used for this interlaboratory comparison. The major findings of this study are that (1) the observed IR-RF signal keeps decreasing beyond 4000 Gy, (2) the saturated sample gives an apparent palaeodose of 1265 ± 329 Gy and (3) in most cases, the natural IR-RF signal of the modern analogue sample (resulting from natural bleaching) is higher than the signal from laboratory-induced bleaching of 6 h, using a solar simulator (SLS). In other words, the laboratory sample bleaching was unable to achieve the level of natural bleaching. The results of the investigations are discussed in detail, along with possible explanations.