The Python time machine – an open source software application for luminescence-based rock surface dating

Luminescence dating of rock surfaces is an emerging and exciting branch of research in geochronology with great application potential. In principle the technique can be used to date hitherto undatable geological and archaeological materials or geomorphological landscape elements. As such, luminescence-based rock surface dating (RSD) is highly complementary to OSL sediment burial and other Quaternary dating techniques.   

RSD basically comes in two variants: rock surface burial dating (RSbD) and rock surface exposure dating (RSeD), both being highly active and promising geochronological research strands undergoing methodological development, refinement and testing. Meanwhile numerous ways of analyzing RSb and RSe luminescence data exist and different approaches to calculate rock surface ages have been introduced, yet no standardized way of handling RSb or RSe luminescence data has been put forward.

Here we present an open-source software package that is based on the software language Python©. The program enables users to evaluate their rock surface luminescence data via a simple graphical user interface (GUI). The program allows processing of data which originate either from CCD or EMCCD images or from the conventional "drilling and slicing" approach and takes various types of OSL, IRSL and IRPL signals into account. We incorporated all currently available and stat-of-the art bleaching models into the software package and provide the user with maximum degree of flexibility for normalizing luminescence signals. In the case of RSeD different calibration procedure options are implemented. Ultimately, the software allows single as well as multiple exposure and burial ages from rock surfaces to be derived.