Andrew Sean Murray

• BSc, DPhil
• Professor at Aarhus University

The Western Iberian Peninsula is undergoing compressive tectonic reactivation, resulting in spatial and temporal variations of surface uplift. Uplift quantification can be undertaken in coastal settings using staircases of shore platforms developed onto rocky headlands. This study analyses two marine terrace staircases in central Portugal: Cape Ras...

Alluvial fans are hypothesised to record signals of past hydroclimate changes in their depositional chronologies and slopes. However, direct tests of this hypothesis have been limited due to challenges in precisely dating the responses of alluvial fans to past climate forcing. Here, we present a new chronology of alluvial‐fan deposition at the Sier...

Wind activity is a powerful force that shapes the landscapes of deserts, coastal areas, and regions adjacent to ice sheets, and it has significant implications for human settlement. In southern Greenland, it has been proposed that the increased wind and soil erosion observed around Norse settlements (~985–1450 CE) were caused by overgrazing by anim...

The Pamir Mountains are one of the highest mountain systems in the world; they act as sources of fresh water for the main rivers of Central Asia: the Amudaria and Syrdaria. Throughout the Quaternary, the Pamirs played a major role in controlling atmospheric circulation and land-surface processes, and provided great volumes of terrigenous sediments...

A large perennial river system, the Ghaggar-Hakra, fed by the palaeo-Sutlej and palaeo-Yamuna Rivers from the west and east respectively, has been argued to have sustained the Bronze Age Harappan urban settlements (∼4.6–3.9 ka BP) in NW Himalayan foreland in India and Pakistan. However, it has been demonstrated by previous workers that palaeo-Sutle...

A chronological study was conducted on the Neolithic depositional layers widely known as ‘Rubble layers’ at the Neolithic site ‘Ain Ghazal, Jordan. The aim of this study was to provide new knowledge about the layers, and their deposition, using luminescence dating. Luminescence ages suggests that the rubble layers were deposited in two distinct epi...

The dating of moraine deposits can present challenges to standard geochronological methods; terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN), sediment luminescence and radiocarbon dating may suffer from problems of incomplete resetting (by inheritance, intermittent cover/exposure, transport under unfavourable conditions) and/or a lack of suitable (organic) mat...

In this study, we provide the first absolute ages for a Big Circle megalithic structure in Jordan, using rock surface luminescence dating of the buried surface of rocks collected from circle J4 in southern Jordan. Five rocks were used for this study. All rocks showed evidence of previous daylight exposure before being used in the construction of th...

The eastern Great Lakes Late Quaternary timescale is based on older thermoluminescence dates and on uncalibrated radiocarbon dates from extensive sections along the north shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. New optically stimulated luminescence dates from Late Quaternary delta sediments from the north shores of Lake Erie at Sand Hills Park give consi...

Glacial and periglacial sediments and landforms record the chronology of glaciation and amount of Pleistocene erosion during colder periods that added substantially to global sediment budgets and contributed to the global CO2 cycle. The now-drained glacial Lake Devlin, dammed in a Front Range tributary valley by a glacier in the North Branch of Bou...

This study focuses on two marine terrace staircases of central Portugal: Cabo Raso (west of Lisboa) and Cabo Espichel (western Arrábida chain). Four emerse marine terraces were found in the Cabo Raso area, while twelve were found at Cabo Espichel, according to geomorphological and stratigraphical studies. Electron Spin Resonance and luminescence da...

Avian traces occurring in Pleistocene aeolianite and beach deposits are rare and relatively poorly known, despite being good paleoenvironmental indicators. Passeriform and raptorial birds are especially rare in the track fossil record. Exceptional tracksites were found in the Malhão formation, a Pleistocene coastal aeolianite unit from the SW mainl...

Here we report on Neanderthal engravings on a cave wall at La Roche-Cotard (LRC) in central France, made more than 57±3 thousand years ago. Following human occupation, the cave was completely sealed by cold-period sediments, which prevented access until its discovery in the 19th century and first excavation in the early 20th century. The timing of...

Here we report on Neanderthal engravings on a cave wall at La Roche-Cotard (LRC) in central France, made more than 57±3 thousand years ago. Following human occupation, the cave was completely sealed by cold-period sediments, which prevented access until its discovery in the 19th century and first excavation in the early 20th century. The timing of...

This study uses quartz‐based optically stimulated luminescence dating to determine when a massive fortification wall (W11186) was constructed in the archaeological site of Tall Zarʿa in the Jordan Valley. A total of 11 samples of sediments were taken from a trench on the north side of the wall ( extramuros ). The extracted quartz grains had good lu...

This study uses luminescence and 14 C accelerator mass spectrometry procedures to date relevant glaciofluvial and glacial deposits from the south-central and southeastern Pyrenees (Andorra-France-Spain). We distinguish two types of end-moraine complexes: (1) those in which at least a far-flung moraine exists beyond a frequently nested end-moraine c...

Supplementary file of Glacial-Interglacial cycles in the south-central and southeastern Pyrenees since ≈ 180 ka (NE Spain - Andorra - S France)

Journal: QUA (Quaternary Research) Manuscript: S0033589422000680jra Q1 The distinction between surnames can be ambiguous, therefore to ensure accurate tagging for indexing purposes online (e.g. for PubMed entries), please check that the highlighted surnames have been correctly identified, that all names are in the correct order and spelt correctly....

We demonstrate a wide-field alpha particle imaging system based on the detection of alpha-induced scintillation light from ZnS:Ag screen using an EMCCD camera. We develop an efficient image processing algorithm to remove cosmic and thermal noise and to locate alpha particle interactions in EMCCD images. This algorithm is particularly suited to imag...

In this study, we use optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to establish a robust absolute chronology for the lower part of the stratigraphic record at “Les Roches d’Abilly”, an important Palaeolithic site in Central France. There, lithic assemblages recording the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition and the behaviour of Neanderthal and Anatom...

This paper presents an updated geological reconstruction of the Quaternary evolution of the River Thames at its downstream extremities, close to the North Sea coast, based on new data from multi-disciplinary and citizen-science sources. In this area, the interaction of the Thames with the MIS 12 (Anglian) glaciation is an important part of the Quat...

Rock art paintings are notoriously difficult to date numerically. Recently, luminescence dating has been shown to provide reliable rock surface burial ages in various archaeological settings. Here, we use the cross‐cutting relationship between a fallen rock and two paintings of the Iberian Levantine (older) and Schematic (younger) styles to constra...

Mineral grains within sediment or rock absorb a radiation dose from the decay of radionuclides in the host matrix. For the beta dose component, the estimated dose rate must be adjusted for the attenuation of beta particles within the mineral grains. Standard calculations, originally designed for thermoluminescence dating of pottery, assume that the...

In the small fraction of Earth's surface with the highest erosion rates such as the Alps and Himalayas quantifying rates of incision, rock uplift and inferring climatic controls on the landscape can be relatively straightforward once the ages of river terraces cut in bedrock (strath terraces) are constrained. However, in many mid to lower relief se...

Although the Upper Volga has been the focus of extensive research for several decades, its origin and evolution remain uncertain. According to the most popular model, the Upper Volga drainage network formed at the end of the last deglaciation (MIS 2); before that, the river basin was occupied by a large MIS2 proglacial lake. In this study we test t...

The Late Quaternary history of the Caspian Sea remains controversial. One of the major disagreements in this debate concerns the stratigraphic correlation of various deposits in the Caspian Basin. In this paper we identify and date, for the first time, the Enotaevka regression, lying between the two major phases of the largest Late Quaternary Caspi...

The south of Western Siberia is an important part of the Eurasian loess belt, containing an extensive record of Quaternary landscape and climate evolution in up to 100 m thick loess deposits with as many as 10 pedocomplexes. However, this important Quaternary archive lacks a reliable absolute chronology, and this has prevented the linking of the wi...

Loess-palaeosol deposits of the Upper Pleistocene cover an extensive territory in the south of Western Siberia. Previously, most studies of loess-palaeosol sequences were carried out on river bank sections of the Ob river around Novosibirsk and upstream of this location (Ob Loess plateau); more recently, the focus of research has shifted towards th...

Some of the largest catastrophic outbursts of periglacial lakes known in the geological history of the Earth have been identified in the Altai Mountains. Traces of these events are recorded in the form of large terraces, predominantly composed of gravel material with numerous horizons of large boulders and blocks. Determining the age of these large...

We present a detailed luminescence chronology of the loess-palaeosol sequences in the Lower Volga region of Russia at the Leninsk site – an important palaeogeographic archive describing the climate and environmental conditions of regressive stages of the Caspian Sea. The chronology of these sediments has received very little attention compared to t...

Catastrophic drainage of ice-dammed lakes in the Altai Mountains has been inferred from geomorphological evidence in the Katun Valley (Russia), and is presumed to have occurred during the Pleistocene. The sedimentary features have been difficult to date directly, due to the absence of organic carbon, and the improbability that luminescence signals...

Previous calculations of the γ dose given to Risø Calibration Quartz (RCQ) were performed using mass absorption and mass attenuation coefficients. In this paper, we update the γ dose given to RCQ using Geant4 simulations and provide a comparison with three other γ sources in Denmark. We also show experimental evidence that the luminescence response...

The Riparo Mochi rock shelter, located on the Ligurian coast of Italy, is one of the most important early Upper Paleolithic sites on the Mediterranean rim. Its ∼10-m-deep stratigraphy comprises a Mousterian sequence, followed by various development stages of the Upper Paleolithic. A series of radiometric dates on marine shells bearing traces of hum...

Dating agricultural artefacts such as field walls and clearance cairns using radiocarbon can be challenging, especially since the association with datable material may be poor. Rock surface burial dating using luminescence offers an alternative. Here we report on the luminescence dating of a medieval circular stone-walled enclosure at Sønnebøe, nor...

—Lacustrine sediments, related subaerial aeolian sands, as well as fluvioglacial sands enclosed in ablation moraines in the Chuya River valley between the Chuya and Kurai basins in Gorny Altai, have been dated by optically stimulated (OSL) and infrared stimulated (IRSL) luminescence. The OSL and IRSL ages indicate that the formation of the lake, wh...

The normally-closed Caspian Sea is known for large changes in relative sea-level (of ∼170 m) during the late Quaternary. These transgressive/regressive events influenced the topography, sedimentation and ecosystems of a large area, of up to 1 million km². The Volga River has played an important role in the water balance of the Caspian Quaternary ba...

There is considerable evidence of widespread damage in the 7th millennium habitation sites across Jordan. The origins of this damage are unknown, but the most widely accepted hypothesis associates the resulting rubble and gravel deposits with the Holocene Rapid Climate Change. One way of testing the various hypotheses is to provide a more reliable...

An understanding of the early development of surface water control systems in Petra, Jordan, has thus far eluded investigators. While the Nabateans certainly used these extensively, it is not clear if they were the first to do so. In some areas in the headwaters of Petra in the Sharah Mountains, megalithic structures have been reported, with some i...

Mass-transport sediments are generally difficult to date directly by existing methods. Conventional luminescence dating of sand is unsuitable because the short transport distances provide little opportunity for bleaching. However, larger clasts are often exposed to sunlight for prolonged periods before becoming entrained in mass-movements, and thes...

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signals from quartz can be used to determine when sedimentary archives were deposited. OSL dating uses the accumulation of energy stored in a crystal structure to measure time. This stored energy is absorbed from ionizing radiation, and is released (reset) by heat or daylight. The total specific energy (dose)...

This study, focused on the well-exposed terrace deposits of the Guadalaviar and Turia rivers and associated slopes, provides a better understanding of the genetic connection between river-terrace sediments and slope accumulations in a setting influenced by temperate to cold (extraglacial) climates: the Sierra de Albarracín and Alfambra–Teruel depre...

Access the published article (open access) --> https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2022.108396 We define a conceptual model of punctuated incision for strath terrace formation, with implications for deriving river incision and rock uplift rates. To illustrate this model, we present a detailed ~200 kyr history of strath terrace formation spanning tw...

We have analyzed the modern status of the chronostratigraphic differentiation of the loess–paleosoil series in southwestern Siberia and the results of luminescence dating of the reference section of the Altai low mountains near the settlement of Krasnogorskoe. A complete series of the Middle and the Late Pleistocene levels of paleosoil formation is...

The Late Pleistocene and Holocene in western Asia is characterized by frequent, millennial-scale, high-amplitude environmental climatic changes. However, little is known about palaeoclimate conditions on the arid Central Iranian Plateau and knowledge of palaeosols and past phases of pedogenesis in relation to climatic events is scarce. Nevertheles...

Permafrost region subsurface organic carbon (OC) pools are a major component of the terrestrial carbon cycle and vulnerable to a warming climate. Thermokarst lagoons are an important transition stage with complex depositional histories during which permafrost and lacustrine carbon pools are transformed along eroding Arctic coasts. The effects of te...

In this study we present a luminescence investigation of samples from the Požarevac loess–palaeosol sequence (LPS) in north–eastern Serbia. The pIRIR290 signal displayed a generally good behaviour and yielded stratigraphically consistent De values. The pIRIR290 ages show very good agreement (within uncertainty) with the expected stratigraphic ages...

In high-resolution γ spectrometry ²³⁸U decay chain members can be measured by comparing reference material and unknown sample count rates induced by the γ lines assigned to ²¹⁴Pb and ²¹⁴Bi. Both ²¹⁴Pb and ²¹⁴Bi are daughter radionuclides of ²²²Rn. This noble gas nuclide can escape from both natural samples, and reference materials. If this escape i...

Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent wo...

The interpretation of the use and contextual meaning of fossil agrarian forms is connected with their age. In this article we discuss the dating and interpretation of a field wall in Öggestorp, situated on the northern rim of the southern Swedish uplands in the province of Småland. Öggestorp is a complex archaeological site dating from the early Ir...

Mineral grains within sediment or rock absorb a radiation dose from the decay of radionuclides in the host matrix. For the beta dose component, the estimated dose rate must be adjusted for the attenuation of beta particles within the mineral grains. Standard calculations, originally designed for thermoluminescence dating of pottery, assume that the...

Autzen et al (2018) observed a decrease in quartz luminescence at very high doses (several MGy) and hypothesised that this decrease was linked to a reduction in the trapped hole population as a result of their silt-sized grains (̴50 μm diameter) retaining excess electrons during irradiation. In this paper, we expand on simulations of [1] to cover b...

Loess deposits are widely spread all over Eastern Europe, extending as far south as the Sea of Azov and the northern Black Sea. For many decades these regions have been noted for series of key sections. However, despite prolonged investigations, a lack of absolute dating and detailed lithological data has left many unresolved problems in the correl...

A detailed study is presented of a 15.3‐m‐thick Pleistocene coastal terrace located on the Cantabrian coast (northern Spain). Stratigraphic, sedimentological, topographic and micropalaeontological information is combined with a chronology based on luminescence dating to characterize the deposits. The sedimentary succession records: (i) a basal tran...

Previous experiments and modelling suggest that quartz and feldspar grains receive a net negative charge when irradiated with electrons. Here we used silt-sized grains of quartz and feldspar to investigate the behaviour of luminescence at very high electron doses, when electrostatic effects become possible. Both quartz and feldspar show an increasi...

Statistical analysis has become increasingly important in optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating since it has become possible to measure signals at the single-grain scale. The accuracy of large chronological datasets can benefit from the inclusion, in chronological modelling, of stratigraphic constraints and shared systematic errors. Recent...

Dryland slopes, fluvial fans and terraces are recognized as highly sensitive process-response systems and important geoarchives for the reconstruction of palaeoclimatic driven landscape development in Southern Africa. The aim of this study is to study a dryland drainage system with a clearly limited regional catchment area, whose drainage and sedim...

The rate of charge deposition in quartz grains irradiated in natural conditions is computed by radiation transport modeling. Quartz luminescence models are modified with the addition of the resulting charge deposition term, and the influence of this process on the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signal is analyzed. The results indicate tha...

We constrain the age of a cobble beach ridge system in Greenland using Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of buried cobble surfaces. Luminescence signals from six cobbles are measured using infrared (IR) stimulation at 50 °C (IR50) and 180 °C (pIRIR180); these cobbles represent four progressively younger beach ridges lying between ~35 a...

In this study, we explored the potential of a NaI(Tl) scintillator-based gamma spectrometer for the accurate determination of burial dose rates in natural geological samples using a full spectrum analysis (FSA) approach. In this method, an iterative reweighted least-square regression is used to fit calibration standard spectra ( ⁴⁰ K, and ²³⁸ U and...

How do river terraces form on geological & archaeological timescales? In this AGU 2020 presentation I will challenge the current dominant model of terrace formation. I will then demonstrate my own with a field site in Morocco. Watch the presentation: youtu.be/RjoKETiFa4Y###############################################################################...

Statistical analysis has become increasingly important in the field of OSL dating since it has become possible to measure signals at the single grain scale. The accuracy of large chronological datasets can benefit from the inclusion, in chronological modelling, of stratigraphic constraints and shared systematic errors. Recently, a number of Bayesia...

Due to the high preservation of the loess series and the availability of coastal outcrop sections loess cover of Western Ciscaucasia has ample opportunities for spatial paleogeographical reconstructions for the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Currently, the level of knowledge on the structure and composition of the loess-paleosol sequences of Western...

The draining of the herein introduced ancient Lake Elji, and the subsequent erosion of its lacustrine sediments, were necessary precursors to the Late Epipalaeolithic (Natufian) and later settlement of Petra. This study investigates this geological history and relates it to human occupation of the broader region. Widespread carbonates consisting of...

During the late Quaternary, dramatic changes in relative sea level (~170 m) are known to have occurred in the Caspian Sea. However, all previous attempts at resolving the uncertainty associated with the timing of these transgressive/ regressive events, primarily using radiocarbon, have produced inconclusive or controversial results. Here we present...

A post-IR IRSL chronology and dust mass accumulation rates of the Nosak loess-palaeosol sequence in northeastern Serbia. Boreas, https://doi.org/10.1111/bor.12459. ISSN 0300-9483. In the Middle Danube Basin, Quaternary deposits are widely distributed in the Vojvodina region where they cover about 95% of the area. Major research during the last two...

The timing of the Neanderthal-associated Middle Palaeolithic demise and a possible overlap with anatomically modern humans (AMH) in some regions of Eurasia continues to be debated. The Iberian Peninsula is considered a possible refuge zone for the last Neanderthals, but the chronology of the later Middle Palaeolithic record has undergone revision a...

To download the presentation visit the DOI link above --> ############################################################## River strath terraces reflect changes in lateral and vertical erosion rates within mountain valleys related to changes in the sediment to water discharge ratio. In contrast to the formation of terraces in high latitude glaciated...