THE POTENTIAL OF LUMINESCENCE TECHNIQUES IN GEOMORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES

Soil formation includes important factors such as bioturbation and erosion-deposition. These geomorphological processes alter the soil properties and the soil production from saprolite. Both bioturbation and lateral movement are significant factors to understand the landscape evolution. In this study, we propose an analytical model for the diffusion-advection equation to quantify the bioturbation and erosion-deposition rates. The model is calibrated with age data from four soil profiles which have been obtained using Infrared Stimulated Luminescence techniques. The study area is located along a hillslope in a granite area in SE of Spain. A global sensibility analysis is applied to know the importance of the parameters in the model. An uncertainty analysis is performed to examine the better fit of the parameters in the model. The results reveal higher diffusivity constant at 20 cm in depth in the hill-base profile (47 mm²/year) than in the hilltop profile (4.8 mm²/year). The uncertainty in estimating the erosion and deposition rate is high. This study shows the capacity of the luminescence techniques in the geomorphological processes.