Illuminating Charge Transport in Feldspar to Measure Rates of Earth Surface Processes

LUMIN will enable unprecedented quantitative measurements of rates of Earth surface processes, through a new understanding of the charge transfer that records these rates in natural minerals.

Earth surface processes sculpt landscapes, disperse nutrients and affect climates and ecosystems; knowledge of the rates of these processes is fundamental to understanding and predicting landscape evolution. Quantifying such rates has proven very challenging over 0.0001-100 m spatial and 10-100,000-year temporal scales.

Recently, luminescence dating techniques based on feldspar, the most dominant mineral in Earths crust, have shown a unique potential to quantify rates over such scales.

These techniques rely on mathematical models of charge transport in feldspar when exposed to ionising radiation, heat and light in Earth surface environments.

However, despite extensive efforts, our models yield inconsistent results, and remain controversial because of our inability to observe these charge transfer processes.

The prime objective of LUMIN is to close this acute knowledge gap by applying novel innovations in luminescence physics.

Using our recent breakthrough discovery which enables imaging of trapped electrons, LUMIN will for the first time: a) observe the spatial and temporal evolution of atomic states participating in luminescence, b) develop a unified mathematical model of charge transport in feldspar from first principles, and c) validate this model for measuring rates of Earth surface processes.

LUMIN will provide a paradigm shift in our knowledge of charge transport processes in feldspar, and thus enable quantification of mass removal and transport on unprecedented spatial and temporal scales.

Such data are essential for i) resolving the roles of climate, tectonics, and anthropogenic forcing in shaping our landscapes, and ii) further developing and field-testing landscape evolution models for assessing and addressing the challenge of global warming.