Abstract
Isotopic and palaeontological studies on Quaternary deep-sea sediment have provided relative but well-established time scales with ages mostly calibrated from the magnetic-polarity time scale. Absolute dating techniques such as U-series or K/Ar-dating have also been successful; however, difficulties exist such as elemental concentrations near the detection limit, or a lack of the necessary minerals. I report here on electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of marine cores, which utilizes the damage caused by natural radiation in planktonic foraminifera. An ESR signal grows linearly with the γ irradiation dose. It is found that the total radiation doses in the foraminifera increase with depth in two cores studied. The results demonstrate the viability of ESR dating for planktonic foraminifera up to 1 Myr in age.
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Sato, T. ESR dating of planktonic foraminifera. Nature 300, 518–521 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/300518a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/300518a0
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