Optical dating of palaeochannel deposits in the Riverine Plain, south-eastern Australia: testing the reliability of existing thermoluminescence dates.

We present the first quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for palaeochannel sediments from the Riverine Plain in southeastern Australia. For young fluvial sediments, we agree with the notion that analysis of the leading edge of a dose distribution curve provides an objective method for determining the OSL age. For a modern flood deposit (less than 200 years old), the OSL ages estimated using the leading edge method (250 ± 50 years) and by using the lowest 5% of the measured dose in single aliquots (230 ± 50 years) agree within experimental errors. For older sediments, we suggest that the mean estimate of the dose distribution is likely to provide a reliable estimate of the OSL age. The luminescence ages suggest that the Coleambally and Kerarbury palaeochannel systems were active between 105 and 80 and 55 and 35 thousand years ago; the Yanco palaeochannel system could have been active as recently as 9000 years ago.