Abstract
Radiocarbon dating by AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) is a well-established absolute dating technique widely used in different areas of research for the analysis of a wide range of organic materials. Precision levels of the order of 0.2–0.3% in the measured age are nowadays achieved while several international intercomparison exercises have shown the high degree of reproducibility of the results. This paper discusses the applications of 14C dating related to the analysis of samples up-taking carbon from marine carbon pools such as the sea and the oceans. For this kind of samples relevant methodological issues have to be properly addressed in order to correctly interpret 14C data and then obtain reliable chronological frameworks. These issues are mainly related to the so-called “marine reservoirs effects” which make radiocarbon ages obtained on marine organisms apparently older than coeval organisms fixing carbon directly from the atmosphere. We present the strategies used to correct for these effects also referring to the last internationally accepted and recently released calibration curve. Applications will be also reviewed discussing case studies such as the analysis of marine biogenic speleothems and for applications in sea level studies.
Highlights
Radiocarbon dating is a well-established and mature absolute dating method widely applied in different research fields spanning from Archaeological sciences, to Earth, Marine and Life sciences
In the last years important methodological advancements such as those related to refined data analysis and calibration procedures and, at the same time, the development of new dedicated, high precision and throughput, compact instruments significantly enhanced the impact of this method in different fields
In this paper we will briefly review the basics of AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) radiocarbon dating in particular discussing the specific issues associated with the analysis of marine samples such as, mainly, the so-called marine-reservoir effect
Summary
Radiocarbon dating is a well-established and mature absolute dating method widely applied in different research fields spanning from Archaeological sciences, to Earth, Marine and Life sciences. Marine organisms fix (radio)carbon from the marine exhibit a 14 C concentration in their tissues mirroring the concentration in the reservoir they pool where it is dissolved from the atmosphere (Figure 1). In this way all the living organare in equilibrium with (such as the atmosphere or the sea). Schematic representation of the from maFigure the mechanism mechanismunderlying underlyingthe theuptake uptakeofofcarbon carbon from marineorganisms By reversing this equation one can calculate, assuming that the isotopic ratio and are known, the time elapsed since the death of the organisms [3]. Principle of the method is simple though, as we will discuss in the following, the estimation and the measurement of these two quantities rises important issues
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