Quartz from southern Africa: sensitivity changes as a result of thermal pretreatment

Sensitivity changes are known to occur in quartz during luminescence measurement procedures. Accurate single-aliquot equivalent dose (D_e) evaluations can be made only if the experimental procedure applied causes no sensitivity change, or can correct for it. The quartz single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol developed by Murray and Wintle (Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., 2000. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-close protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, 57–73) incorporates a sensitivity correction procedure that was developed using measurements made on a single sample from Australia. This paper presents experimental data designed to test the applicability of this correction procedure to quartz extracted from two southern African sediments. The results indicate that accurate corrections are made using this protocol irrespective of the direction and magnitude of the sensitivity change. The implications for routine D_e evaluation are discussed.