SAR protocols used in this study to obtain ages from quartz (protocol A) and K-feldspars (protocol B).

<p>L_n and L_x refer to the natural and regenerative-dose signal measurements, respectively. T_n and T_x refer to the test dose signals measured after the L_n and L_x signals, respectively. Each SAR measurement cycle was repeated for the natural-dose, three to four different sized regenerative doses, a 0 Gy regenerative-dose (to measure OSL signal recuperation) and a replicate of the first regenerative-dose cycle (to assess the suitability of the test-dose sensitivity correction). In the case of the single-grain TT-OSL SAR procedure, the OSL IR depletion ratio <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0110169#pone.0110169-Duller3" target="_blank">[124]</a> was measured separately and used to check for the presence of feldspar contaminants.</p>a<p> Step omitted when measuring the natural signal (L_n).</p>b<p> Aliquots were held at pIR-IR stimulation temperatures for 10 s prior to switching on the IR diodes to avoid any potential isothermal TL contamination of the pIR-IR signal.</p>c<p> A high temperature IRSL stimulation was not included at the end of each pIR-IR SAR measurement cycle because these samples did not display significant signal recuperation (the 0 Gy regenerative dose pIR-IR signal was consistently <3% of the sensitivity-corrected natural pIR-IR signal for all measured aliquots).</p><p>SAR protocols used in this study to obtain ages from quartz (protocol A) and K-feldspars (protocol B).