Madhav Krishna Murari

• Ph.D
• Research Scientist at Inter-University Accelerator Centre

Infrared radiofluorescence (IR-RF) is an alternative dating technique for potassium feldspar grains, offering a higher signal stability and based on a simpler underlying mechanism than more common luminescence dating approaches. However, its accuracy when tested on known-age samples has so far shown inconsistent results. In this study, we present a...

A report on the Fifth annual luminescence dating and its applications workshop, organised by the Association for Luminescence Dating, India during 21–23 February 2024 at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India; and the preworkshop training programme on 20 February 2024 at the Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar, India.

The article focuses on the fourth annual workshop on luminescence dating and applications, bringing together scientists and students from various disciplines. Topics include methodological developments, Earth surface processes and paleoclimate studies, and geoarchaeology, with discussions on issues faced by the luminescence geochronology community...

The study reports the new progress in the glacial chronology from new sites of the Chandrabhaga basin (CBB), in the transition between the monsoon-dominated Pir-Panjal and westerly-dominated Trans-Himalaya, in Lahaul Himalaya, northern India. In Lahaul, asynchronous timing and extent of late Quaternary glaciation have been reported (Owen et al., 19...

The original online version of this article was revised. The position of the watershed names “Bhaga Upper” and “Bhaga Lower” were erroneously placed in Fig. 10 in the original article. Fig. 10 has been corrected as follows.

Glacier shrinkage is a globally occurring phenomena. High-resolution change detection based on frequent mapping and monitoring of high-altitude glaciers is necessary to precisely evaluate future water availability and to understand glacier evolution under different climatic scenarios in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalayan (HKH) region. This also hold...

Excavated trenches at two sites across the Marquesado–La Rinconada fault system along the eastern Precordilleran front south of San Juan, Argentina, reveal the earthquake history of this rapidly urbanizing region. Interpretation of earthquakes is based on both the generation of colluvial wedges and upward fault terminations, as well as folding even...

This study investigates elevation change (dh) and geodetic mass budget of glaciers in the Jankar Chhu Watershed (JCW), Lahaul Himalaya, India, based on the difference in ASTER DEMs during 2002-2018. Glacier-wide spatially heterogeneous dh patterns were evaluated in the context of morphological and topographical settings. During 2002–2018, glaciers...

Following up on previous attempts to date diatom frustules, further investigations were made on 1) extracting diatom frustules devoid of inorganic luminescent grains, 2) developing an equivalent dose estimating protocol based on the diatomite luminescence characterization, and 3) testing the applicability of this protocol on two lacustrine profiles...

While revolutionary to the geomorphic community, the application of terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) dating is complicated by geological uncertainties, which often lead to skewed or poorly clustered TCN age distributions. Although a range of statistical approaches are typically used to detect and remove outliers, few are optimized for analysis...

Quartz and Feldspar are ubiquitous minerals, widely used in Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. Quartz is widely used in Cosmogenic Radionuclide (CRN) dating as well. In order to utilize them for dating purpose, it is important to extract pure quartz or feldspar. Quartz and feldspar have different luminescence properties, therefore it i...

Infrared Radiofluorescence (IR-RF) is a relatively new method for dosimetric dating of the depositional timing of sediments. This contribution presents an interlaboratory comparison of IR-RF measurements of sedimentary feldspar from eight laboratories. A comparison of the variability of instrumental background, bleaching, saturation, and initial ri...

Quartz from Central Himalaya is not only 'dull' but also 'dirty'. Low sensitivity (cts.Gy-1 .mg-1) is called 'dull', and presence of infra-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) in quartz is called 'dirty'. Although post IR blue stimulated signal may be used to date quartz grains, low sensitive quartz grains demand more machine time to get statistically si...

The Wabash Valley seismic zone (WVSZ) is a region of diffuse, modern intraplate seismicity in the central United States with a history of strong, late Quaternary and Holocene seismicity as determined through paleoliquefaction studies. Yet, there are no specific faults linked to these strong WVSZ paleoearthquakes, some of which were as large as Mw 7...

Luminescence dating methods on natural minerals such as quartz and feldspars are indispensable for establishing chronologies in Quaternary Science. Commonly applied sediment dating methods are optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL). In 1999, Trautmann et al. (1999a, b) proposed a new related technique ca...

Direct numerical dating of landforms with terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCNs) has revolutionized geomorphology. However, geologic processes such as weathering, denudation, exhumation, and reworking creates scatter in apparent exposure age datasets. Statistical analysis is typically employed to access TCN age scatter and remove outliers on a part...

We discuss the dose recovery behaviour IR-RF from K-rich feldspar extracts from modern-analogue sediment samples. The zero-dose of these samples was previously confirmed by quartz OSL and feldspar IRSL measurements. In our experiments, the IR-RF curve (RFnat) from the naturally bleached sample was taken as a regenerated curve within dose recovery e...

Identifying systematic errors that are in- troduced by the measurement equipment is a necessary prerequisite for reproducible measurements and reliable results. However, technical artefacts often remain unpublished. Here we report on a sudden change of lumi- nescence intensity observed while measuring IR-RF signals from K-feldspar extracts. The mea...

Slip rates represent the average displacement across a fault over time and are essential to estimating earthquake recurrence for probabilistic seismic hazard assessments. We demonstrate that the slip rate on the western segment of the Puente Hills blind thrust fault system, which is beneath downtown Los Angeles, California (USA), has accelerated fr...

Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004 informed on the amplitude of marine inundations that can occur in the eastern coasts of India. Geological signatures of such high-energy marine wave events are inferred from the older sedimentary records using chaotic deposits and/or boulder deposits with a word of caution to link them with tsunami, as similar records coul...

The glacial history of three tributary valleys (Namlung, Gopal Kangri and Stok Kangri) of the Stok valley, south of the Indus valley in the northern sector of the Zanskar Range, northern India is characterized using geomorphic mapping and cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating. The new glacial chronostratigraphy for the Stok valley is the first fo...

Streamlined subglacial landforms that include drumlins in three study areas, the upper Chandra valley around Chandra Tal, the upper Spiti Valley and the middle Yunam Valley of the NW Himalaya of India were mapped and studied using geomorphic, sedimentological and geochronological methods. These streamlined subglacial landforms include a variety of...

This study combines structural, geomorphologic and paleoseismic analysis to characterize the seismogenic behavior of the complex network of faults that ruptured in the Mw 7.2 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah (EMC) earthquake. Detailed mapping of alluvial fan surfaces revealed the existence of seven distinct alluvial fan surfaces. Based on differences in surfa...

Big Bone Lick (BBL) in northern Kentucky, USA has been a critical geologic site in the historical development of North American Quaternary vertebrate paleontology since the 1700s. Sedimentology, geoarcheology, paleontology, accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope...

The lower Ohio River valley is a terraced fluvial landscape that has been profoundly influenced by Quaternary climate change and glaciation. A modern Quaternary chronostratigraphic framework was developed for the lower Ohio River valley using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and allostratigraphic mapping to gain insights into the natu...

Late Pleistocene to Holocene Morava River valley-fill of the eastern Czech Republic reflects the geomorphic evolution of the valley as forced by climate change. Valley-fill stratigraphy was studied through measured sections, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, ground-penetrating radar surveys of relict sand dunes, archiv...

Mapping and thirty-eight 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) ages help define the timing of glaciation in the monsoon-influenced Greater Himalaya in central Garwhal, India. Glacial landforms in central Garwhal are present only within a few kilometers of the present glaciers and all date to less than ∼12.5 ka. This suggests that the Lateglacia...

The late Quaternary glacial history of the Nun-Kun massif, located on the boundary between the Greater Himalaya and the Zanskar range in northwestern India, was reconstructed. On the basis of morphostratigraphy and 10Be dating of glacial landforms (moraines and glacial trimlines), five glacial stages were recognized and defined, namely: (i) the Ach...

The Holocene and late Pleistocene environmental history of the teri (‘sandy waste’ in local parlance) red sands in the southeast coastal Tamil Nadu was examined using remote sensing, stratigraphy, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Geomorphological surveys enabled the classification of the teri red sands as, 1) inland fluvial teri,...

We present the results of dating glacial landforms in Venezuela using 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) analysis and optical stimulated luminescence (OSL). Boulders on the La Victoria and Los Zerpa moraines of the Sierra Nevada that mark the extent of the local last glacial maximum (LLGM) yield 10Be TCN surface exposure ages of 16.7 ± 1.4 k...

The Holocene and late Pleistocene environmental history of the teri ('sandy waste' in local parlance) red sands in the southeast coastal Tamil Nadu was examined using remote sensing, stratigraphy, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Geomorphological surveys enabled the classification of the teri red sands as, 1) inland fluvial teri,...

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR), and thermoluminescence (TL) are used to characterize the primary electron and hole trapping centers in a lithium tetraborate (Li2B4O7) crystal doped with Ag. Three defects, two holelike and one electronlike, are observed after exposure at room temperature to 60 kV x-r...

Neutron-induced defects in silver doped lithium tetraborate (Li2B4O7:Ag) are identified and characterized using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and thermoluminescence (TL). Neutron irradiation induced two unique defects detectable by EPR. Both of these neutron-induced defects are substantially more thermally stable than as-grown...

Written history’s limitation becomes apparent when attempting to document the predecessors of extreme coastal events in the Indian Ocean, from 550–700 years in Thailand and 1000 years in Indonesia. Detailed ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in Mahabalipuram, southeast India, complemented with sedimentological analyses, magnetic susceptibility...

Al2O3:C is an established thermoluminescence (TL)/optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosemeter for personnel, space and medical applications. Mathematically, the decay of Al2O3:C OSL can be described by a sum of three exponentials, termed as fast, medium and slow components. The shape of the OSL decay of Al2O3:C is known to be dose dependent....

The tsunami of 26 December 2004 was associated with an Mw 9.3 earthquake. This was the second largest earthquake ever recorded. Geodynamic processes leading to such earthquakes suggest that these are repetitive. It is therefore desirable to obtain their recurrence interval. Earlier attempts to date palaeo-tsunami sediments have assumed that the bas...

In luminescence dating, the single grain approach offers a promise for identification of the most bleached grains for age calculations. A proper interpretation of single grain dose distribution however is still awaited. Ideally the palaeodose distribution should be a sharply peaked distribution with its width determined by the experimental errors....

The presentation will deal with the methodological aspects and new applications of luminescence dating so as to provoke a discussion on some of these ideas. Some of the factors described below can be a potential source of systematic errors which have been overlooked, so far. A. Methodological Aspects: 1. Natural Sensitivity Correction for SAR De Va...