Thermoluminescence dating of the Malan loess at Zhaitang, China

Although the widespread loess deposits of north China have been well described, there has been limited information on the absolute age of the various layers. Loess, a wind-carried deposit exposed to sunlight and subsequently buried, should be amenable to dating by thermoluminescence. Through use of the fine grain technique, ages from 18 to 84 ka have been obtained for a sequence in the Malan loess exposed in the Zhaitang section near Beijing. The dates are consistent with the evidence from geology and magnetostratigraphy and provide a chronology for the Zhaitang section.