Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T23:38:17.538Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Complementary Use of Amino-Acid Epimerization and Radiocarbon Analysis for Dating of Mixed-Age Fossil Assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Glenn A Goodfriend
Glenn A Goodfriend*
Affiliation:
Isotope Department, Weizmann Institute of Science 76100 Rehovot, Israel
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Several approaches to dealing with the problem of mixed-age fossil assemblages are presented. These involve the use of amino-acid epimerization analysis (D-alloisoleucine/L-isoleucine ratio, or A/I) and are illustrated by deposits of land snail shells. This method requires only very small samples, so shells can be analyzed individually. Mixed-age deposits are indicated when variation in A/I among individual shells within the deposit exceeds the analytical error. Methods are presented for 1) estimating the true time of deposition of slightly-mixed-age assemblages based on bulk 14C dates and epimer analyses, 2) selection (for 14C analysis) of a set of individual shells that are uniform in age and represent the true time of deposition, and 3) estimating ages of individual shells within a mixed-age deposit based on their A/I ratios.

Type
IV. Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 31 , Issue 3: June 20-25, 1988 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia , 1989 , pp. 1041 - 1047
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Bada, J L, Gillespie, R, Gowlett, J A J and Hedges, J J, 1984, Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages of amino acid extracts from California palaeoindian skeletons: Nature, v 312, p 442–444.Google Scholar
Bada, J L and Helfman, P M, 1975, Amino acid racemization dating of fossil bones: World Archaeol, v 7, p 160–173.Google Scholar
Broecker, W S, Andrée, M, Klas, M, Bonani, G, Wölfli, W and Oeschger, H, 1988, New evidence from the South China Sea for an abrupt termination of the last glacial period: Nature, v 333, p 156–158.Google Scholar
Goodfriend, G A, 1987a, Chronostratigraphic studies of sediments in the Negev Desert, using amino acid epimerization analysis of land snail shells: Quaternary Research, v 28 D 374–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G A, 1987b, Evaluation of amino-acid racemization/epimerization dating using radiocarbon-dated fossil land snails: Geology, v 15, p 698–700.Google Scholar
Goodfriend, G A, 1987c, Radiocarbon age anomalies in shell carbonate of land snails from semi-arid areas: Radiocarbon, v 29, no. 2, p 159–167.Google Scholar
Goodfriend, G A and Mitterer, R M, 1987, Age of the ceboid femur from Coco Ree, Jamaica: Jour Vertebrate Paleont, v 7, p 344–345.Google Scholar
Goodfriend, G A and Mitterer, R M, 1988, Late Quaternary land snails from the north coast of Jamaica: local extinctions and climatic change: Palaeogeog, Palaeoclimat, Palaeoecol, v 63, p 293–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, S T, Whitehead, D R and Davis, O K, 1986, Accelerator radiocarbon date indicates mid-Holocene age for hickory nut from Indiana late-glacial sediments: Quaternary Research, v 25, p 257–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lajoie, K R, Peterson, E and Gerow, B A, 1980, Amino acid bone dating: a feasibility study, south San Francisco Bay region, California, in Hare, P E, Hoering, T C and King, K Jr, eds, Biogeochemistry of amino acids: New York, John Wiley & Sons, p 477–489.Google Scholar
Miller, G H and Mangerud, J, 1985, Aminostratigraphy of European marine interglacial deposits: Quaternary Sci Rev, v 4, p 215–278.Google Scholar
Miller, G H, Sejrup, H P, Mangerud, J and Andersen, B G, 1983, Amino acid ratios in Quaternary molluscs and foraminifera from western Norway: correlation, geochronology and paleotemperature estimates: Boreas, v 12, p 107–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitterer, R M, 1975, Ages and diagenetic temperatures of Pleistocene deposits of Florida based on isoleucine epimerization in Mercenaria : Earth & Planetary Sci Letters, v 28, p 275–282.Google Scholar
van Devender, T R, Martin, P S, Thompson, R S, Cole, K L, Jull, A J T, Long, A, Toolin, L J and Donahue, D J, 1985, Fossil packrat middens and the tandem accelerator mass spectrometer: Nature, v 317, p 610–613.Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J T, 1982, A review of amino acid racemization studies in Quaternary mollusks: stratigraphic and chronologic applications in coastal and interglacial sites, Pacific and Atlantic coasts, United States, United Kingdom, Baffin Island, and tropical islands: Quaternary Sci Rev, v 1, p 83–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar