ESR dating of quaternary shells: Recent advances

This paper deals with the key problems of the ESR dating of subfossil mollusc shells — the estimation of the stored palaeodose of natural radiation. It is shown that the use of the analytical line (or peak in the integrated spectrum) at g = 2.0012 ± 0.0001 with the half-width 0.6 mT seems most advisable for the estimation of the relative concentration of radiation defects equivalent to the stored palaeodose in the calcareous shell skeleton. Optimal ESR spectrometer settings have been determined. Results of ESR dating of subfossil mollusc shells from Eemian deposits of Boreal transgression are discussed.