Palaeochronologists test the accuracy of the Isochron Burial Dating Technique

Isochron Burial Dating with cosmogenic nuclides is used in Quaternary geochronology for dating sediments in caves, terraces, basins, and other depositional environments.

However, the method has seldom been rigorously tested against an independent chronology. Here, we report a direct comparison of isochron burial dating with K-Ar and⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar bracketing ages on volcanic flows that sandwich a fluvial gravel layer in the Xinjiang province of northwestern China. The ages agree to within analytical uncertainty, validating the assumptions and physical constants used in the isochron burial dating method.

A test of the isochron burial dating method on fluvial gravels within the Pulu volcanic sequence, West Kunlun Mountains, China

Zhijun Zhao, Darryl Granger, Maoheng Zhang, Xinggong Kong, Shengli Yang, Ye Chen, Erya Hu

DOI:10.1016/j.quageo.2016.04.003

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