Shell Hash Dating and Mixing Models for Palimpsest Marine Sediments

Abstract

The dating of palimpsest marine sediments using broken shell fragments (shell hash) is considered to be a necessary but unreliable technique because of the mixed age of the fragments. An analysis of geological mixing models and radiocarbon data on shell hash from sandy sediments on the southeast Australian coast and shelf are used to examine the possibility for simulating the depositional processes, and thus, to better understand the age structure of the deposits.