The establishment of an accurate sediment budget, including both inter-tidal sand and mud deposition, requires a reliable chronology for the deposits. This study investigates the application of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating to determine sedimentation rates on a sandy tidal flat, since these sandy deposits are very difficult to date using other techniques (e.g. 14C and 210Pb). An absolute OSL chronology for four sediment cores, recovered from the Danish part of the Wadden Sea is presented. Despite vertical mixing and bioturbation of the tidal sediments, OSL ages ranging from a few years up to ~16,300 years are obtained. The average overall accumulation rates are found to be similar to the local relative sea-level rise, estimated as ~0.7 mm.a-1 in this area. The tidal flat is concluded to have had a positive sediment budget during the last 100 years and the new approach, using OSL dating, shows promising results.
