Obsidian hydration dating

Friedman, I. and J. Obradovich (1981), Obsidian hydration dating of volcanic events, Quatern. Research 16, 37-47. 

Friedman, I., F. W. Trembour, and R. E. Hughes (1997), Obsidian hydration dating, in Taylor, R. E. and M. J. Aitken (eds.), Chronometric Dating in Archaeology, Advances in Archaeological and Museum Science Series, Vol. 2, Plenum, New York. 

Liritzis, I. (2006), SIMS-SS A new obsidian hydration dating method Analysis and theoretical principles, Archaeometry 48, 533-547. 

Stevenson, C. M., M. Goitesnian, and M. Macko (2000), Redefining the working assumptions of obsidian hydration dating, /. California and Great Basin Anthropology 22, 223-226. 

The rate of hydration of obsidian, which is diffusion limited, forms the basis for Obsidian Hydration Dating [f]. A date refers to "the time a fresh surface of obsidian was created, either naturally or by man.. ..Laboratory and field studies have confirmed that the time indicated by a hydrated layer is proportional to the thickness squared of the layer. The hydration rate is independent of the relative humidity of the environment, but the chemical composition of the obsidians affect the rate by orders of magnitude. Si02 increases the rate, whereas CaO, MgO, and H20 decrease it. A 6 - 8 °C temperature increase causes doubling of the rate." The method is quite inexpensive, and it is applicable to ages between a few hundred and several million years. 

Liritzis I, Ganetsos Th (2006) Obsidian hydration dating from SIMS H-l- profiling based on saturated surface (SS) layer using new software. Appl Surf Sci 252 7144-7147. 

Friedman I., Trembour F. W., Smith F. L., and Smith G. I. (1994) Is obsidian hydration dating affected by relative humidity Quat. Res. 185-190. 

Liritzis, L, Laskaris, N. (2009) Advances in obsidian hydration dating by secondary ion mass spectrometry world examples. Nucl. Instrum. Methods B, 267,144. 

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