Luminescence
and Electron Spin Resonance Dating
PRL method can determine age of million year old objects
DNA Friday, November 13, 2009 10:53:00 AM
While carbon dating has been a common method of calculating the
age of historical artefacts, it has limited scientists to ascertain
ages to around only 50,000 years. However, scientists at the Physical
Research Laboratory (PRL) have developed a new method called Luminescence
and Electron Spin Resonance Dating, which will help scientists
and historians calculate the age of artefacts up to at least a
million years.
This new technique, referred to as luminescence dating for short,
uses the luminescence of minerals to calculate the ages of artefacts
and enables researchers to understand the climatic and seismic
events at different periods in time.
Talking about the usefulness of this new method, former director
of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) at Jodhpur,
RP Dhir said, We have been conducting research in the Thar
Desert and have been able to find that some of the sand dunes
there are more than one lakh years old. We have been enabled to
use this method of calculation of age by the expertise of the
PRL scientists.
The expertise has enabled researchers at CAZRI to come up with
several interesting findings, including that the Yamuna River
earlier flowed towards Rajasthan and would flow down to the Arabian
Sea, he said. The river connected to the Satlej River to
become the Saraswati River, along the banks of which a rich human
civilisation dwelled, Dhir said.
Dhir was present at an Asia Pacific conference hosted by PRL
on Thursday. More than 100 scientists from 15 countries took part
in the conference, which discussed various aspects of physics
and the applications of luminescence dating.
By using this method, researchers will be able to calculate the
ages of different global changes. Citing one such example, Ann
G Wintle, a professor at Cambridge University, UK, discussed how
this method has helped scientists calculate when certain rivers
changed course. Other scientists participating in the event discussed
their research into global changes, including snow avalanches
and earthquakes.
While some scientists using this method to find recurring trends
in earthquakes have been able to predict future trends, others
are using the method to date snow avalanches in order to find
safe tracks for the movement of military troops.
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_prl-method-can-determine-age-of-million-year-old-objects_1310995