Morteza Fattahi - Associate Professor, Department of Earth Physics, Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran, Iran
Richard Walker - Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, England

We have investigated an optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating study in the Nimbluk lakebed in Khorasan, northeast Iran. Two samples of the lake-bed sediments from ~۱ m below the land surface are successfully dated at ۷.۳-۹.۹ ka. All necessary experiments have been performed to choose the most suitable procedure for dating quartz extracts using single aliquot regeneration method (SAR). We have employed weighted histogram, unweighted histogram and central age model (CAM) for equivalent dose determination. Although, these results of the ages do not allow us to determine the timing of desiccation, the results suggest that the early part of the Holocene was much wetter than today. This provides valuable palaeo-environmental data in the region.

Iran, Lake-bed sediments, Luminescence dating, Nimbulk Plain, OSL