OSL chronology of Lynch’s Crater, the longest terrestrial record in NE-Australia

Abstract

Lynch’s Crater on the Atherton Tablelands in NE-Australia formed about 230,000 years ago during an explosive eruption, creating a maar more than 80 m deep. Since the eruption, the maar has been filled with lake sediments that are topped by peat material. A 64 m long core was recovered and an OSL dating project was undertaken to extend the chronology beyond 16 m depth, which according to 14C age control represents w60 ka. The predominantly organic lake sediments contained abundant fine quartz of aeolian origin, and the Single Aliquot Regenerative Method (SAR) provided satisfactory equivalent dose (DE) estimates. However, the determination of the dose rate proved both critical and difficult. Extremely low radionuclide contents led to cosmic radiation being the dominant dose rate contribution for most samples. The OSL chronology presented in this paper thus relies on modelling the changing cover by sediments and lake water over the burial time.