Reply to comment by Huntley on "Isochron dating of sediments using luminescence of K-feldspar grains"

In our isochron studies using grains of different sizes, we observed that the IRSL ages obtained from K‐feldspar without correction for fading show an increase with increasing grain size [Li et al., 2007, 2008]. Huntley [2011a] argued that this result was caused by different fading rates for grains of different sizes or by different source materials for different sizes of grains. We replied to his comment [Li et al., 2011], suggesting that the phenomenon could be explained by there being different fading rates for the IRSL signals produced by natural and laboratory irradiation [Li et al., 2007, 2008]. Instead of applying a correction to the whole of the IRSL signal [Zhao and Li, 2002], Li et al. [2008] deduced that the IRSL signal derived from the internal dose rate does not fade. An isochron dating method using the internal dose was proposed, and it appeared to be able to give reliable ages for well‐bleached aeolian samples [Li et al., 2008]. We are pleased that Huntley [2011b] has put forward new comments and some valuable explanations for our isochron data [Li et al., 2008] and that we can take the opportunity to reply to his comments.