OSL and EPR dating of shells and sediments from Congonhas II sambaqui, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Cano N.F.; Ayala-Arenas J.S.; Javier-Ccallata H.S.; Watanabe S. · Radiation Physics and Chemistry (2020) · DOI: 10.1016/j.radphyschem.2019.03.044

Resumen

There are about thousands of shell-mounds (sambaqui in Portuguese) along the Brazilian sea coast. They have been built by sea water and therefore geologists used sambaquis positions to indicate sea level in the past. In the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil Ca. 60 very large sambaquis are found. One of them near the town of Tubarão is called Congonhas II. In this work we carried out OSL and EPR dating of moluscus shells and sediments collected from Congonhas II from its base and from a point at higher position. For the samples from basal position of Congonhas II ages from 3850 ± 340 to 4040 ± 270 years and samples from higher position age of about 3300 ± 230 to 3400 ± 510 years have been obtained. These results agree with radiocarbon dates and geologically expected data relative to past sea level fluctuation.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa; Universidad Tecnológica del Perú