New approaches and recent mehodologies in Paleoseismology

Dating methods in paleoseismology

The most commonly used dating method in paleoseismology is based on the radioactive decay of the Carbon ¹⁴C isotope. Three main techniques are used nowadays to extract an age from a sample: the CO₂, the Benzene scintillation, and the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) techniques. The latter one is the most frequently used nowadays because it needs only about 1 milligram (mg) of rich carbon content of sample and provides an age with a good accuracy. ¹⁴C dating methods can be used only for samples with an age of less than 40,000 - 50,000 years B.P. For older samples, other methods must be used.

Various samples of sedimentary units can be collected from the trench exposures and some of them can be good enough for a radiometric analysis or other Quaternary dating methods (¹⁴C, U-Th, K-Ar, ...etc.). The different techniques applicable in paleoseismology are compiled in the book of McCalpin (1996).