Minimizing feldspar OSL contamination in quartz UV-OSL using pulsed blue stimulation

Natural sediments usually contain a mix of quartz and feldspar. Because these two minerals have different luminescence properties and record different natural doses it is normally necessary to physically separate them before measurement. This paper investigates the potential of using pulsed stimulation to separate the optically stimulated luminescence signals from quartz and feldspar.

Doses are measured from 11 natural (unseparated) fluvial samples from Denmark and Russia, and it is concluded that, by using post-IR pulsed blue stimulation, the quartz dose can be accurately measured without any prior chemical separation. This technique has considerable potential for both field dose measurements and laboratory measurement of separated quartz samples containing feldspar contamination.