 Paper published in December 2000. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: m.fuchs@mpi-hd.mpg.de (M. Fuchs), alang@giub. uni-bonn.de (A. Lang). Quaternary Science Reviews 20 (2001) 783}787 OSL dating of coarse-grain #uvial quartz using single-aliquot protocols on sediments from NE Peloponnese, Greece  M. Fuchs*, A. Lang Forschungsstelle Archa ( ometrie, Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Am Max-Planck Institut fu ( r Kernphysik, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany Geographisches Institut, Meckenheimer Allee, D-53115 Bonn, Germany Abstract Optical ages of quartz extracts in Holocene sediments from the north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece, are reported. The single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol proposed by Murray and Wintle (2000, Radiation Measurements 32, 57}73) was used to estimate the equivalent dose in these samples. A large inter-aliquot scatter in D  values was observed for all samples; this is ascribed to heterogeneous bleaching of the samples at deposition. To estimate a D  for age calculation, a technique is suggested based on the analysis of the D  scatter obtained from nine di!erent quartz samples which were arti"cially bleached and irradiated. This procedure is especially useful when the sample quantity is limited. The optical age estimates increase with sampling depth. An average aggradation rate of 1.5 mm/yr is derived using the OSL ages; this value is consistent with the known uplift rate of 1}2 mm/yr.  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The north-eastern Peloponnese is one of the most dynamic environments in the world due to active tec- tonics (Sorel, 2000) and strong human impact since Neo- lithic times. The study area is a basin located &30 km southwest of the Gulf of Corinth (Fig. 1), at around 300 m a.s.l. It is surrounded by mountains up to 1600 m a.s.l. height. Due to the steep relief and the high potential for erosion of the Neogene sediments in the source area, a thick sequence of Late Quaternary deposits developed in the basin. This allows a detailed reconstruction of Holocene landscape evolution if a high-resolution chro- nology of the basin "ll can be established. Thus optical dating of #uvial coarse-grained sediments has been at- tempted. The study was inspired by the recent develop- ments in optical dating (for reviews see Aitken, 1998, Prescott and Robertson, 1997, Wintle, 1997) of #uvial sediments using small sample sizes. The source material for the Late Quaternary basin "ll consists mainly of Neogene carbonates and very small amounts of quartz or feldspars, necessitating the application of single-aliquot or single-grain procedures in estimating the equivalent dose of these samples. 2. Materials and methods A natural outcrop in the bed of the summer-dry river Assoposs, which drains the basin of the study area was used for sampling (see Fig. 1). The 2 m thick sedimentary column consists of intercalated layers of silts, sands and, in places, gravels. All clasts consist principally of carbon- ates. Four samples for OSL dating were taken from the sandy layers at depths of 40 cm (HDS 803), 55 cm (HDS 787), 110 cm (HDS 804) and 150 cm (HDS 788). Addi- tionally, two commercially available quartz samples (Merck 7536, sample codes C 3a and C 3b) and seven natural samples from the study area (N1}N7) were bleached, irradiated and used for comparative test measurements. The comparative measurements were carried out to investigate the scatter of the D  values obtained on well-bleached quartz extracts and thus to gain an indication of the possible precision of the D  estimates. The natural samples (N1}N7) used for the comparative test measurements were taken from near the sampling location of the samples used for age determination 0277-3791/01/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 7 7 - 3 7 9 1 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 4 0 - 8