I am currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow working on spatially-resolved luminescence approaches to date old archaeological sites in Spain. Through innovative approaches including IR-RF and IRPL of K-feldspar, we are targeting Middle and Early Pleistocene localities to test the limits of state-of-the-art luminescence dating.
Previously, I have worked as a postdoc at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), Stony Brook University (USA), and Justus Liebig University of Giessen (Germany), primarily investigating IR-RF dating methodologies and the complex interplay between luminescence characteristics and chemical composition. During my PhD at the University of Wollongong (Australia), I focused on improving available approaches to date samples from volcanic regions in Indonesia using luminescence dating, including batch-format data processing. I originally trained in Molecular Biotechnology (BSc) and then transitioned into Archaeological Sciences (MSc).
Publications
Sontag-González, M., Murari, M. K., Jain, M., Frouin, M., and Fuchs, M., 2025. Further investigations into the accuracy of infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) and its inter-comparison with infrared photoluminescence (IRPL) dating, Geochronology 7, 289–308. https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-289-2025
Geis, A.-L., Sontag-González, M., Kolb, T., Jain, M., Fuchs, M., 2025. Multi-method luminescence dating of late Cenozoic northern Upper Rhine Graben fluvial sediments. Quaternary Geochronology 90, 101689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2025.101689
Zhang, J., Arriga, G., Rossetti, F., Argante, V., Kraemer, D., Sontag-González, M., Cosentino, D., Cipollari, P., and Tsukamoto, S., 2025. Dolomite luminescence thermochronometry reconstructs the low-temperature exhumation history of carbonate rocks in the central Apennines, Italy, Commun Earth Environ, 6, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02216-1
Riedesel, S., Guérin, G., Thomsen, K.J., Sontag-González, M., Blessing, M., Botha, G.A., Hellers, M., Möller, G., Peffeköver, A., Sommer, C., Zander, A., Will, M., 2025. A direct comparison of single grain and multi-grain aliquot luminescence dating of feldspars from colluvial deposits in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Geochronology 7, 59–81. https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-59-2025
Sontag-González, M., Geis, A.-L., Kolb, T., Fuchs, M., 2024. Chronostratigraphie der Forschungsbohrung Riedstadt-Erfelden: Erste Datierungsansätze mittels Infrarot-Radiofluoreszenz (IR-RF) (in German). Geologisches Jahrbuch Hessen 141, 29−38.
Sontag-González, M., Li B., O’Gorman, K., Burhan, B., Hakim, B., Brumm, A., Roberts, R. G., 2024. Survival of the brightest? pIRIR dating of volcanic sediments in Sulawesi, Indonesia, using micro-aliquots of K-rich feldspar. Quaternary Geochronology 85, 101638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101638
Maßon, L.A.E., Riedesel, S., Zander, A., Sontag-González, M., Reimann, T., 2024. Testing the applicability of standardised growth curves for chemically heterogeneous single-grain feldspars from the Atacama Desert, Chile. Quaternary Geochronology 83, 101585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101585
Li, B., Jacobs, Z., Sontag-González, M., O’Gorman, K., Roberts, R.G., 2024. A Bayesian hierarchical age model for single-grain optical dating of feldspars. Quaternary Geochronology 81, 101515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101515
Sontag-González, M., Kumar, R., Schwenninger, J.-L., Thieme, J., Kreutzer, S., Frouin, M., 2024. Short communication: Synchrotron-based elemental mapping of single grains to investigate variable infrared-radiofluorescence emissions for luminescence dating. Geochronology 6, 77–88. https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-6-77-2024
Sontag-González, M., Mittelstraß, D., Kreutzer, S., Fuchs, M., 2022. Wavelength calibration and spectral sensitivity correction of luminescence measurements for dosimetry applications: Method comparison tested on the IR-RF of K-feldspar. Radiation Measurements 159, 106876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2022.106876; Full-text at https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.07991
Kolb T., Sontag-González, M., Fuchs, M., 2022. Testing the potential of a standardized growth curve approach for improving the applicability and performance of fading correction. Quaternary Geochronology 73, 101375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2022.101375
Sontag-González, M., Fuchs, M., 2022. Spectroscopic investigations of infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) for equivalent dose estimation. Radiation Measurements 153, 106733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2022.106733; Full-text at https://doi.org/10.22029/jlupub-18690
Sontag-González, M., Li, B., O’Gorman, K., Jacobs, Z., Sutikna, T., Tocheri, M.W., Roberts, R.G., 2021. Establishing a single-grain pIRIR procedure for De estimation of volcanic feldspar: A case study of Liang Bua, Indonesia. Quaternary Geochronology, 65, 101181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2021.101181; Full-text at https://ro.uow.edu.au/test2021/1220/
O’Gorman, K., Tanner, D., Sontag-González, M., Li, B., Brink, F., Jones, B.G., Dosseto, A., Jatmiko, Roberts, R.G., Jacobs, Z., 2021. Composite grains from volcanic terranes: Internal dose rates of supposed ‘potassium-rich’ feldspar grains used for optical dating at Liang Bua, Indonesia. Quaternary Geochronology, 64, 101182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2021.101182; Full-text at https://ro.uow.edu.au/test2021/1253/
Sontag-González, M., Frouin, M., Li, B., Schwenninger, J.-L., 2021. Assessing the dating potential of violet stimulated luminescence protocols. Geochronometria 48, 121–128. https://doi.org/10.1515/geochr-2015-0115
Bentele, T., Amadei, F., Kimmle, E., Veschgini, M., Linke, P., Sontag-González, M., Tennigkeit, J., Ho, A.D., Özbek, S., Tanaka, M., 2019. New Class of Crosslinker-Free Nanofiber Biomaterials from Hydra Nematocyst Proteins. Scientific Reports 9, 19116. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-55655-0
Code and data
Sontag-González, M., Murari, M. K., Jain, M., Frouin, M., & Fuchs, M., 2024. Further investigations into the accuracy of infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) and its inter-comparison with infrared photoluminescence (IRPL) dating [Data set] (v1.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14507180
Riedesel, S., Guérin, G., Thomsen, K. J., Sontag-González, M., Blessing, M. A., Botha, G. A., Heller, M., Möller, G. H., Peffeköver, A., Sommer, C., Zander, A. M., & Will, M., 2024. A direct comparison of single grain and multi-grain aliquot measurements of feldspars from colluvial deposits in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12759292
Sontag-González, M., Kumar, R., Schwenninger, J.-L., Thieme, J., Kreutzer, S., & Frouin, M., 2023. Short communication: Synchrotron-based elemental mapping of single grains to investigate variable infrared-radiofluorescence emissions [Data set] (v1.0.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7971804
Sontag-González, M., Mittelstraß, D., Kreutzer, S., Fuchs, M., 2022. Code and data to run wavelength calibration and spectral sensitivity correction of luminescence measurements for dosimetry applications tested on the IR-RF of K-feldspar [Code] (v1.0.2). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6565760
