Quartz luminescence and ESR thermochronometry of drill-core sediments from the Anadarko Basin, USA

Constraining rock time–temperature histories below ~100 °C (corresponding to the upper ~3 km of the Earth’s crust) is crucial for understanding the interactions between tectonics, erosion, and climate over Quaternary timescales. However, reconstructing thermal histories spanning 10⁴-10⁶ years within the ~25-75 °C temperature range remains a significant challenge. Trapped-charge dating techniques, such as Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), enable measurement of different temperature-sensitive (< 100 ^oC) trapped charge dating signals within quartz minerals, thereby offering the potential to fill this temporal and thermal gap. Quartz OSL signals often saturate over timescales of ~10⁴ years, while ESR signals saturate over longer timescales of ~10⁶ years; used together, these methods provide a powerful tool for constraining cooling and exhumation histories over the Quaternary.

A key challenge in establishing quartz OSL and ESR thermochronometry as a robust method lies in the lack of reliable and comprehensive benchmark studies. This study addresses this limitation by investigating quartz from drill-core sediments in the Anadarko Basin (Oklahoma, USA) with a well-constrained temperature history (~30−80 ^oC) based on empirical calibration with a stable geothermal gradient. Down-core measurement of OSL and ESR signals show promising results exhibiting a systematic decrease in intensity with increasing temperature (and depth), with OSL signals reaching saturation in the lower temperature range. Here, we conduct a detailed investigation of sample-specific signal saturation limits, thermal decay kinetics and temperature-sensitivity of OSL and ESR signals, followed by inversion of these different trapped charge signals for temperature. Our results provide a comprehensive and robust benchmark study to assess the potential and limitations of quartz OSL and ESR thermochronometry for reconstructing temperature histories in natural settings.