ESR dating and trapped electrons lifetime of quartz grains in loess of China

Abstract This paper reports the preliminary application of ESR dating to loess strata. The samples were collected from the 7th palaeosol layer (S7) of the Luochuan section, Shaanxi province in China. The ESR age of S7 is 736 ka (total dose 2945 Gy, annual dose 4 mGy/year). This age represents the original eolian accumulation age. The result is consistent with the palaeomagnetic data (730 ka). We have also carried out thermal annealing experiments on quartz grains from the S7 sample. ESR intensities ( g = 2.0005) increase from 25°C to 320°C. It may be that trapped electrons transfer into the E′ centre site. ESR intensities decrease from 340°C to 460°C due to thermal annealing. We obtained a mean-life of E′ centre electrons at 20°C of 6.66 × 10 8 years. The activation energy is 1.35 eV and frequency factor is 3.7 × 10 8 min −1 .