Application of OSL and 10Be techniques to the establishment of deglaciation chronology in Estonia

The deglaciation history of Estonia has been under research for about a century. Despite the great number of publications devoted to this subject and marked improvements in study methods, many problems of topical interest have not been solved yet, especially due to the lack of good direct dating methods. In this paper the suitability of OSL and 10Be dating techniques for establishing accurate deglaciation chronology for Estonia is assessed. Turbidity and water depth, velocity of outwash streams and transport length, possible fast sedimentation at night hours or below the ice, incorporation of older, unbleached particles, and other factors affected the extent of the bleaching of the TL signal in different ways, causing great variability of dates. Surface inclination, height of the surface over ground, snow and vegetation cover, and evolution of water bodies influenced the calculation of reliable exposure ages of objects dated using the 10Be method. It means that age determinations of both glaciofluvial deposits with the OSL method and erratic boulders with the 10Be method are highly problematic, especially for glaciofluvial intertill sediments where the exact genesis of deposits is unknown and for boulders, which have been in the forest, under the waters of proglacial lakes and/or the Baltic Sea, or under snow cover for a long time.