Abstract: Soil age is closely correlated with various factors of pedogenesis and of significant importance to the studies on soil bio-geochemistry, soil environmental change, geological assessment and archaeology. Since soil samples have suffered from very complecated environment conditions and interference factors, the dating studies of soil is more difficult than that on normal archaeological samples. Soil ‘absolute’ dating method involves many sciences, including pedology, geology and archaeology etc.. Currently, soil dating techniques mainly include radioactive isotope dating, luminescence dating, electron spin resonance dating, palaeomagnetic dating and amino acid racemization dating etc.. This paper summarized, compared and discussed the principles and research progress on these methods. Radioactive isotope dating had a wide range of optional elements, soil materials and time scales. Luminescence dating and electron spin resonance method with a relative long time scale were used to determine the quartz minerals in the soil: Amino acid racemic dating was suitable for soils with higher organic matter content. Soil rich in magnetic minerals could be used for the paleomagnetic dating, the method had a longer time scale. In order to evaluate the soil age more accurately, it was believed that the soil dating method should be selected on the basis of soil clay minerals and organic matter with physical and chemical characteristics, and the soil age could be evaluated integratedly by various methods. Moreover, these soil dating methods could provide strong evidences for soil genesis, climate change and long-term C and N cycle research.

Key words: soil absolute age dating, radioactive isotope dating, luminescence dating, electron spin resonance dating, palaeomagnetic dating, amino acid racemization dating

摘要： 土壤年龄与各种成土因素密切相关，对于土壤生物地球化学循环、土壤环境变化、地质学评估、考古研究均有着重要意义。由于土壤样品所处环境复杂，干扰因素较多，因此在土壤年龄测定方面有很多困难。目前，土壤绝对年龄的主要研究方法涉及土壤学、地质学、考古学等多种学科，主要包括放射性同位素测年法、释光测年法、电子自旋共振测年法、古地磁法以及氨基酸外消旋测年法等。对常用测年方法的原理和研究进展进行了总结与分析，从全局的角度对各种方法的优劣进行了比较：放射性同位素测年所用元素广泛，可选土壤材料与时间尺度也各不相同；释光定年和电子自旋共振法以土壤中石英矿物为测定对象，时间尺度均为中等至长时间；氨基酸外消旋定年适用于有机质含量较高的土壤；富含磁性矿物如磁铁矿的土壤定年可以采用古地磁法，该方法时间尺度较长。认为土壤测年应重点从土壤粘土矿物和有机物着手，根据土壤样品理化特性进行对症分析，并通过多种方法综合评价，从而对土壤年龄进行更准确评价，并为土壤成因、环境气候变化以及长期碳氮循环等相关研究提供有力证据。

关键词: 土壤绝对年龄测定, 放射性同位素定年, 释光测年法, 电子自旋共振测年法, 古地磁法, 氨基酸外消旋测年法