ESR and TL Age Determination of Caliche Nodules.

Feasibility of dating caliche nodules by ESR and TL is investigated. For both methods the properties of the dating signal are described. Chemical composition as well as TL glow curves of caliches originating from different localities exhibit some differences. Due to the complexity of the TL glow curves, some samples required a special post-annealing procedure in order to resolve the main TL peak for age determination. Typical ESR calcite signals do not exist in caliche, therefore usefulness of the g = 2.0040 ESR signal is studied. The results of TL and ESR ages are found to be compatible except for two samples. Possible causes of the discrepancy in these samples are discussed. It is shown that, with proper treatment of the radiation-induced signals, it was possible to date caliche formations older than 350 ka, which is not achieveable with other methods like uranium series disequilibrium and/or radiocarbon dating