Luminescence dating of the last earthquake of the Sabzevar thrust fault, NE Iran

Journal article

Iran is one of the world's most tectonically active regions, yet dating past earthquakes for neotectonic studies has been limited. One of the main reasons for this is that organic material suitable for radiocarbon dating of deformed sediments is rare. We investigate the use of infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) from coarse-grained feldspars to date colluvial deposits associated with the Sabzevar thrust fault in northeastern Iran. The single-aliquot regenerative (SAR) dose measurement procedure was used for this study. The current study investigates monitoring and correcting for sensitivity changes, recovering a known laboratory dose and equivalent dose estimation using three SAR IRSL methods. It is shown that SAR has recovered a given laboratory dose using a range of preheat temperatures but De determination of natural samples requires its own preheat plateaus for two of these SAR methods. The SAR IRSL method provided an age of 1.7±0.3 ka for colluvium, predating the last earthquake event on the Sabzevar fault. This result suggests that this fault is likely to be responsible for an earthquake that destroyed Sabzevar city in AD 1052. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Authors: Fattahi, M; Walker, RT

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: QUATERNARY GEOCHRONOLOGY
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1-4
• Pages: 284-289
• Publication date: 2007-01-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quageo.2006.06.006
• ISSN: 1871-1014
• Language: English
• Keywords: luminescence dating; fault slip-rate; iran; earthquake; seismic hazard