This study, using ESR, OSL, and LA-ICPMS trace element analyses, reveals significant relationships between quartz OSL/ESR sensitivities and bedrock characteristics. Trace element compositions appear to influence the OSL and ESR-Ti sensitivities, the last being weak in quartz extracted from metamorphic or deformed rocks. Pressure may take a part in OSL/ESR-Ti sensitivities variability while ESR Al intensities could be linked to initial fluid composition and crystallization conditions

U-Pb dating of cave sediments has provided important new time constraints on the evolution of cave-dwelling organisms (including early humans), and of Earth's climate during the past 5 million years. This paper shows that the most common type of U-Pb dating, which uses ²³⁸U and ²⁰⁶Pb, can be inaccurate beyond 2 million years ago. It proposes an alternative type of U-Pb dating, using ²³⁵U and ²⁰⁷Pb, as a more accurate alternative.

Garnet U-Pb dating is useful for dating geologic events. However, contamination by U-rich minerals included in garnet is a risk. Inclusions are often spotted by high-U spikes or large errors in the age. We dated garnets in metamorphic rocks and calculated ages 10–15 Myr older than expected, reflecting contamination by the mineral zircon. We provide recommendations for identifying contamination and suggest that the bulk dating of zircon inclusions in garnet may also provide valuable information.

This paper describes measurements of cosmogenic neon-21 concentrations in a widely distributed mineral standard material that is routinely used for quality control and interlaboratory comparison for measurements of other cosmic-ray-produced nuclides useful for various geochronology applications. Broadly, this facilitates improvement of precision and accuracy of these measurements and their applications in geochronology.

We show that portable X-ray fluorescence can be used to rapidly (c. 90 s) estimate the rate of background radioactivity in sediment used to calculate burial ages in trapped charge dating studies. This procedure involves inputting a measurement of potassium concentration into a set of simple linear equations, defined by a large, training dataset. Results show good agreement with high-precision methods. Our rapid method will help to quickly generate burial age estimates.

We tested the reliability of infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) dating of K-feldspar on samples of known age. We compare several measurement protocols and analysis variants and determine the most appropriate version. Additionally, we compare these results with those obtained using infrared photoluminescence (IRPL), an alternative dating method for K-feldspar, for the same samples. Our results confirm the dating potential of IR-RF and highlight similarities and differences to other methods.

This study focuses on quartz veins in Germany's Rursee area, formed during the Variscan orogeny and reactivated by tectonic forces in the Jurassic-Cretaceous period. Using advanced isotopic dating, researchers revealed precise ages, showing how these veins shaped fluid flow and quartz recrystallization. The work addresses the challenge of dating fluid activity and provides new insights into Earth's geological history, offering a method that can be applied to similar studies in other regions.

Ice sheet mass loss is adding to sea-level rise, and is expected to increase, but by how much and how fast remains uncertain. Isotopes produced in rock at the Earth’s surface provide records of past ice sheet thinning which help predict future change but are more effective if they are precise enough to determine past changes to the nearest thousand years. The precision of carbon-14, an isotope which is guaranteed to record past change since the last ice age, can be improved.

Conventional (U-Th)/He thermochronology requires accurate calculation of mineral grain volumes, often based on approximations to an ideal geometry. However, there are many instances where knowingly altering the geometry through polishing mineral grains for additional in situ data collection is desirable. This contribution provides a new method to calculate polished grain volume and other derived data for zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronology using no-added-cost modifications of existing workflows.

The uranium-thorium and uranium-lead radiometric dating methods are both capable of dating carbonate samples ranging in age from about 400,000 to 650,000 years.  Here we test agreement between the two methods by 'double dating' speleothems (i.e. secondary cave mineral deposits) that grew within this age range. We demonstrate excellent agreement between the two dating methods and discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses.

OCTOPUS v2.3 updates CRN Denudation datasets, adding 1,311 new river basins to the CRN International and Australia collections, totalling 5,611 basins with recalculated beryllium-10 denudation rates and 561 with aluminium-26 rates. New fields include basin centroid latitude, effective atmospheric pressure, glacier extent, and quartz-bearing lithology percentages, improving data quality and interoperability with online erosion calculators.

Accurate readings on the environmental gamma dose rate are important. Portable gamma-ray detectors, such as NaI or LaBr₃-based, are easy to handle and affordable. Limited information on alternatives, like CZT (Cadmium Zinc Telluride) detectors is available. We tested CZT detectors and found them suitable for in-field deployment. We used simulations and field tests to evaluate the optimal energy threshold for direct dose rate readings, making the CZT system a reliable alternative.

In this contribution we demonstrate in situ monazite Lu–Hf dating and compare results with U–Th–Pb dating. We present data from monazite reference materials and complex samples to demonstrate the viability of this method. We show that in situ Lu–Hf dating of monazite can resolve multiple age populations and may find use where the U–Th–Pb system is compromised by Pb-loss, non-radiogenic Pb contamination, excess 206 Pb, low U contents, or a combination of these factors.