Luminescence dating has developed over the last ∼60 years as a powerful technique for placing environmental and anthropogenic change into a secure temporal framework. However, over time, many have forgotten, or were never introduced to, the history of how of the method developed, particularly the role of unique instruments built in-house that enabled key methodological advances. In this paper we provide a concise history of the technique’s evolution, drawing on our own experiences.

The rainwater basins are northeast-southwest oriented deflation basins on an aeolian sediment–mantled remnant alluvial plain south of the Platte River in central Nebraska. Many of them hold runoff, at least seasonally. Most basins are ovoid, with long axes ranging from 1 to 2.5 km in length, and lunettes are commonly found along their southeastern and/or southern margins that stand 8 to 12 m above basin floors. Core stratigraphy indicates that the basins were eroded from Pleistocene alluvium and aeolian sand and later mantled with loess. Lunettes consist of very fine to medium sand capped by Peoria Loess. We collected 22 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples from lunettes around seven basins and four additional samples from the loess-mantled dunes and sandy alluvium that underlies the Rainwater Basin Plains. OSL dating shows the lunettes were deposited approximately 51 to 20 ka, although most ages lie between 39 and 25 ka. Our chronology shows that the basins and lunettes formed primarily during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) when a combination of aridity and intermittent wetter climates facilitated basin deflation and subsequent remodeling by wave activity when the basins held water. The basins and lunettes were subsequently stabilized and mantled by Peoria Loess during MIS 2.

The chronology of Late Pleistocene and Holocene aeolian sand activity in midcontinent North America provides important insight into paleoenvironmental change and associated surface processes. Near the limit of Marine Isotope Stage 2 glaciation of the Huron-Erie Lobe (Laurentide Ice Sheet) in south-central Indiana, aeolian sand deposits found along the eastern margin of outwash plains in the East Fork and West Fork White River valleys provide an opportunity to test the causal mechanisms for aeolian sand activity. Twenty-five optically stimulated luminescence ages on aeolian sand and four radiocarbon ages on gastropod shells document two phases of aeolian sand activity. The first phase, between 26 and 19 ka, records deflation from active outwash plains in the East Fork and West Fork White River valleys during and after the local glacial maximum. These ages overlap with the chronology of Huron-Erie Lobe advance into and out of the White River drainage basin based on a radiocarbon-dated slackwater succession. The second phase, between 16 and 12 ka, records reworking of older aeolian sand and outwash during a period of no-analog vegetation during the Bølling-Allerød/Younger Dryas and is in general agreement with the timing of dune activity from previous studies in the Great Lakes region.

The efficacy of using luminescence dating on glacial deposits is tested for a portion of the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 Laurentide Ice Sheet margin in southwestern Indiana. We assess small-aliquot quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of glaciofluvial, glaciodeltaic, and aeolian sediments against a well-established soil stratigraphy and a cosmogenic 10Be depth profile. Results indicate that standard blue-light OSL regenerative protocols used on MIS 2 glacial sediments in the region warrant caution when duplicated for MIS 6 sediments. Quartz OSL ages underestimate age by up to 50% compared with cosmogenic and feldspar post-IR IRSL200 ages. Presence of unstable or hard-to-bleach OSL signal components that cannot be removed with modified preheat protocols yields unreliable data. While dates obtained using post-IR IRSL200 protocols on feldspar are affected by partial bleaching and anomalous fading, these factors can be accounted for. Discrimination of negligible-fading small-aliquot data allowed us to obtain post-IR IRSL200 ages between 103 ± 12 and 241 ± 28 ka. Post-IR IRSL200 ages are mostly consistent with 10Be depth-profile dating and stratigraphic constraints and represent a viable option to study glaciofluvial sedimentation during MIS 6 and older glaciations in the region.

The Mammoth Site (MS) at Hot Springs, South Dakota, provides a unique opportunity to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions on the Northern Great Plains of the United States. Previous radiocarbon analyses of mammoth bone apatite suggested the MS sinkhole was deposited ∼42–23 cal ka BP. However, two U-series ages and one thermoluminescence (TL) age ranged between 150 and 101 ka, suggesting the bones were considerably older. We analyzed six samples from the bone bed using infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) on feldspars, because the quartz luminescence was saturated; the ages ranged from approximately 232 to 160 ka, showing better agreement with previous U-series and TL analyses. In addition, we dated three samples on two terraces that are at lower elevation than the MS. Our new IRSL ages show that the sediments of the MS were likely well bleached, derived from pond margin runoff events, and deposited as sandy-silt laminae couplets. Our chronology indicates that the 6-m-thick bone-bearing sediments accumulated at a rate of approximately 12 mm/yr and that deposition occurred during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 and MIS 7, not MIS 2 and MIS 3 as previously published.

The prehistoric cultural material at the Lodoso Site, a Middle Archaic to Late Prehistoric campsite near Driscoll, Texas, is dominated by irregularly shaped heat-hardened fragments of earth called burned clay objects (BCOs). These artifacts are a common component of coastal plain archaeology in Texas and elsewhere in the state. Many such sites, especially those situated in sandy soils, do not preserve charcoal well, which renders dating the occupations challenging. The clayey matrix of the Lodoso Site does preserve charcoal, which presents an opportunity to assess the suitability of luminescence dating of burned clay objects by thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and directly compare those results with charcoal collected from the same excavation provenience, as well as OSL dating of the sedimentary matrix. The TL and OSL results generally track together well but are consistently slightly older than charcoal collected from the same level. The charcoal dates suggest the midden formed between approximately 1500 and 2300 years ago, whereas the luminescence ages suggest formation occurred between 2000 and 3000 years ago. Where the luminescence ages occur out of stratigraphic order, so do the paired charcoal samples, indicating that this is a result of pedoturbation. The results of both radiocarbon and luminescence dating indicate that the midden is a diachronic feature resulting from use over a prolonged period rather than the product of a single burning event.

Hydrothermal explosions are a significant geological hazard in some active volcanic systems; however, the timing and triggering mechanisms of these explosions are poorly constrained. This study applies luminescence dating techniques to hydrothermal explosion deposits in the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field to constrain explosion chronologies and evaluate potential triggering mechanisms. We tested four luminescence dating techniques: K-feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR225), quartz blue light optically stimulated luminescence (BLOSL), quartz blue thermoluminescence (BTL), and quartz red thermoluminescence (RTL). The pIRIR225 and RTL protocols produce consistent age estimates that agree with independent radiocarbon ages and with the timing of the Pinedale deglaciation. This study focuses on two craters, Mary Bay, along the northern shore of Yellowstone Lake, and Pocket Basin in Lower Geyser Basin. The mean pIRIR225 ages from Mary Bay deposits (11.99 ± 0.68 ka) agree with previous radiocarbon constraints. The mean pIRIR225 results from Pocket Basin deposits (13.44 ± 1.06 ka) suggest a history of explosion following Pinedale deglaciation, followed by recent hydrothermal alteration. Luminescence dating techniques are a promising tool for reconstructing the timing of hydrothermal explosions in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, helping to constrain recurrence intervals of the largest hydrothermal systems, informing risk, and improving hazard assessments.

The Mission Creek fault strand (MCF) of the San Andreas Fault is proposed to be the primary strand accommodating slip between the Pacific and North American plates in Southern California, but its Holocene activity northwest of Indio is debated. This study presents new depositional ages for alluvial deposits near the mouth of the Mission Creek drainage to investigate potential Holocene activity of the MCF. We estimate a mean depositional age of 0.7 ± 0.2 ka for the alluvium deposited in the drainage valley, contradicting previously inferred ages of >3–18 ka. The young ages for alluvium, often indistinguishable from the age of modern alluvium, suggest that grains are transported during high-energy flash flood–like events. A comparison of luminescence and cosmogenic 10Be ages from alluvial surfaces adjacent to the Mission Creek suggests a possible reworking event at ∼30 ka. Young alluvium ages, together with evidence for frequent flash floods, suggest that this site is rapidly resurfacing and therefore unlikely to preserve surficial rupture signatures older than a few hundred years. Therefore, the lack of observable offsets in deposits overlying the MCF does not imply Holocene inactivity.

Understanding the local to regional history of extreme events such as debris flows and floods provides context to plan for and mitigate these hazards to life, property, and infrastructure. The Klamath Mountains of northwestern California have experienced both debris flows and devastating wildfires. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (WHIS) is at the heart of this range and has a wealth of debris flow–related landforms. Gaining an understanding of prehistoric flows and their relationship with fire or other potential triggers can help mitigate future problems. Optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon analyses from sediment and entrained organics in undisturbed facies, including beneath partially buried boulders, establishes a chronology of paleo-events in WHIS. The levee deposits indicate a repetition of debris flows during the latest Holocene, every 125–150 years, since 850 yr. Larger flows occurred, with a record elucidated from debris-flow deposits along Clear Creek, with Middle Holocene ages, ca. 2600 to 5500 yr, most of which have sufficient concentrations of charcoal to indicate origins as postfire debris flows. Deposits at higher elevations show events from the latest Pleistocene ca. 13,000 yr. This geochronology indicates that these are not singular events but are relatively common and inherent to the geomorphic processes shaping this landscape.

The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sensitivity of quartz ranges across five orders of magnitude. Previous studies suggested that quartz OSL sensitivity is enhanced by solar exposure–burial irradiation cycles. Spatially resolved luminescence measurements and laboratory illumination–irradiation experiments were used to investigate the OSL sensitivity of quartz crystals from a granodiorite cobble and quartz grains from a fluvial sand. Quartz from the granodiorite cobble has low OSL sensitivity, showing an approximately linear sensitization path that resulted from laboratory illumination–irradiation cycles. The mean OSL sensitivity of quartz sand grains (100 grains) increased from ∼40 to 80 counts after 1260 illumination–irradiation cycles. Each grain has a specific sensitization trajectory due to illumination–irradiation cycles, suggesting that quartz crystal composition heterogeneities drive the OSL sensitization of their daughter sediment grains. Maximum OSL sensitivity of quartz sand grains is reached after illumination–irradiation cycles representing an accumulated dose of around 4000 Gy. This dose corresponds to sediment burial time of 2–4 Ma, which is unlikely to occur during a single sediment transport route. This study suggests that illumination–irradiation cycles are unable to produce quartz sand grains with OSL sensitivity up to five orders of magnitude higher than the sensitivity of parent crystals in igneous or metamorphic rocks.

Low optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sensitivity is commonly observed in quartz from tectonically active catchments, suggesting limited or short-lived conditions favorable for sensitization. We characterize the OSL sensitivity of quartz sand within a small, tectonically active catchment in Sicily using modern fluvial samples and a hillslope soil sample. We investigate how OSL sensitivity varies with bedrock lithology, weathering proxies, and topographic metrics. OSL sensitivity spans three orders of magnitude (60–2800 counts/Gy/mm3) with no clear linkage to bedrock source. The soil sample exhibits the highest OSL sensitivity, and positive relationships between OSL sensitivity, magnetic susceptibility, and weathering intensity suggest that pedogenic hillslope processes enhance quartz OSL sensitivity. In contrast, fluvial sediments show low OSL sensitivity and a modest inverse relationship to channel steepness and hypsometry. OSL sensitivity decreases downstream, suggesting that highly sensitized grains from hillslope soils are progressively diluted by low OSL sensitivity sediment likely generated by rapid bedrock erosion in the catchment. These results highlight a hierarchy of controls: bedrock lithology sets the initial OSL sensitivity, hillslope processes enhance it, rapid erosion dilutes it, and fluvial transport modulates it through mixing, explaining why tectonically active catchments rarely preserve quartz with high OSL sensitivity.

Our group has previously characterised a post-violet infrared stimulated luminescence (pVIRSL) signal and developed a post-violet infrared single-aliquot regenerative-dose (pVIR-SAR) protocol for estimation of paleodoses. The protocol provides an opportunity for measuring polymineral samples as violet stimulation prior to IRSL measurement, bleaches natural luminescence signal of quartz, and makes it possible to probe photo-transferred charges in feldspar through IR stimulation. This study presents the results of the pVIR-SAR protocol on natural polymineral fine- (4–11 μm) and coarse-grain (90–150 μm) samples, including volcanic ash, pottery, and fluvial deposits from varied geological provenances. The results show that pVIR-SAR ages of both these fine- and coarse-grain samples are consistent with geological reasoning and available age controls thereby suggest that with the use of the pVIR-SAR protocol, mineral separation can be dispensed. This study also reports on the bleachability, athermal fading rates, and alpha efficiencies of pVIRSL for these samples and corresponding results are compared with IRSL at 50°C and post-IR IRSL (pIRIRSL) at 290°C. The pVIRSL signal has a better bleachability and reproducibility compared to the pIRIRSL signal. For the fluvial deposits dated in this study, the fine-grain samples provide ages consistent with the expected chronology.

Luminescence dating and profiling are important analytical methods for providing chronological constraints and reconstructing depositional histories from sediment cores. However, sediment cores have often been exposed to ionising radiation sources during geophysical analyses, which potentially contaminates natural luminescence signals and may compromise the accuracy and reliability of luminescence analyses. Variable water content down-core is another potential issue for the rapid analysis of sediments, as water attenuates luminescence and may limit the comparability of samples. Here, we use a portable optically stimulated luminescence reader to test the influence of two common geophysical analyses—X-radiography and gamma-ray logging—on the luminescence properties of sediments in marine cores. We demonstrate that both techniques cause negligible changes to luminescence signals with doses <100 mGy. We test the effect of variable water content on luminescence and show that net signals are reduced by up to 70% at 30% moisture, relative to dry sediments. Accurate and reliable luminescence signals can be obtained from sediment cores despite prior exposure to ionising radiation from geophysical loggers or variable water content. However, the accuracy of luminescence measurements does require taking appropriate steps before analysis, like assessing the doses given by geophysical instruments at specific laboratories or drying samples.

Luminescence dating researchers benefit from many community-led software packages. These packages assist with data reduction, statistical modeling, calculation of dosimetric values, and plot production. Yet few resources are simultaneously intuitive, meant for simulating the reduction and growth of luminescence signals, and accessible to non-specialists. The Luminescence Sample Simulator (LuSS) is an application with a graphical user interface that simulates how apparent age and fractional saturation respond to three key scenarios in luminescence dating: sunlight exposure, heat exposure, and burial. Users can simulate these scenarios for an individual cobble or sand grain, or for a population of 100 sand grains. The underlying kinetic parameters can be adjusted manually or taken from a built-in library of published values. Plots of apparent age histograms, luminescence depth profiles, or fractional saturation and apparent age histories are visualized and can be exported. LuSS is written in MATLAB and can operate as a free-to-use, standalone application, or as an app within an existing MATLAB installation. A typical user workflow and three worked examples show how LuSS can model luminescence signal evolution in response to geologic scenarios. Limitations of LuSS include its inability to capture athermal fading or between-grain variability in geologic dose rate or sensitivity.