THERMOLUMINESCENCE DATING OF AUSTRALIAN PALAEO-EARTHQUAKES

Thermoluminescence (TL) dating is a useful tool for determining the ag e of prehistoric earthquakes by dating deposits that are stratigraphic ally related to fault scarps that formed during the earthquakes. TL da ting of aeolian sand in the area of the 1988 Tennant Creek, Northern T erritory, earthquakes provides evidence that similar earthquakes have not ruptured the causative faults for at least 50 ka. Pilot TL measure ments of deposits associated with the Roopena and Ash Ridge fault scar ps near Whyalla on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, suggest an age of 140 ka for the Quaternary deposits associated with the formation of th e scarps.