Optical dating of a hyperconcentrated flow deposit on a Yellow River terrace in Hukou, Shaanxi, China

A sand layer, interpreted as a hyperconcentrated flow deposit, was found interbedded between loess on a Yellow River terrace in Hukou, Shaanxi, China. The site is known as the Longwangchan Palaeolithic site. The deposits from the terrace were dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Two samples from the sand layer were dated to 30 ± 2 and 33 ± 3 ka using coarse-grained (CG) quartz, and to 82 ± 7 and 94 ± 5 ka using fine-grained (FG) quartz, respectively. The CG quartz OSL ages are believed to be reliable on the basis of the OSL ages of the bracketing loess samples. The overestimation of the FG quartz OSL ages of the sand samples is explained in terms of hyperconcentrated flow processes during sediment transport and deposition. The large difference between the CG and FG quartz OSL ages of the sand samples helps to better understand the formation of the hyperconcentrated flow deposit. The hyperconcentrated flow deposit in this study indicates an extreme river flood occurring at ∼30 ka in this area. In addition, the stone artifacts found in the lower loess layer overlying the bedrock of the terrace were dated to ∼47 ka.