Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T08:48:49.184Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Dating of Deep-Sea Corals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Jess F Adkins ,
Shelia Griffin ,
Michaele Kashgarian ,
Hai Cheng ,
E R M Druffel ,
E A Boyle ,
R Lawrence Edwards  and
Chuan-Chou Shen
Jess F Adkins
Affiliation:
MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. Now at California Institute of Technology, MS 100-23, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, California 91125 USA. Email: [email protected].
Shelia Griffin
Affiliation:
University of California at Irvine, Department of Earth System Science, Irvine, California 92697-3100 USA
Michaele Kashgarian
Affiliation:
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry L-397, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, PO Box 808, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550 USA
Hai Cheng
Affiliation:
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
E R M Druffel
Affiliation:
University of California at Irvine, Department of Earth System Science, Irvine, California 92697-3100 USA
E A Boyle
Affiliation:
Dept. of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences, MIT, E34-200, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
R Lawrence Edwards
Affiliation:
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
Chuan-Chou Shen
Affiliation:
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
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.

Deep-sea corals are a promising new archive of paleoclimate. Coupled radiocarbon and U-series dates allow 14C to be used as a tracer of ocean circulation rate in the same manner as it is used in the modern ocean. Diagenetic alteration of coral skeletons on the seafloor requires a thorough cleaning of contaminating phases of carbon. In addition, 10% of the coral must be chemically leached prior to dissolution to remove adsorbed modern CO2. A survey of modern samples from the full δ14C gradient in the deep ocean demonstrates that the coralline CaCO3 records the radiocarbon value of the dissolved inorganic carbon.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , 2002 , pp. 567 - 580
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Adkins, JF, Boyle, EA. 1999. Age screening of deep-sea corals and the record of deep North Atlantic circulation change at 15.4 ka. In: Abrantes, F, Mix, A, editors. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Paleoceanography. Elsiever. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Adkins, JF, Cheng, H, Boyle, EA, Druffel, ERM, Edwards, L. 1998. Deep-sea coral evidence for rapid change in ventilation of the deep North Atlantic 15,400 years ago. Science 280:725–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bard, E. 1988. Correction of accelerator mass spectrometry 14C ages measured in planktonic foraminifera: paleoceanographic implications. Paleoceanography 3: 635–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bard, E, Arnold, M, Fairbanks, R, Hamelin, B. 1993. 230Th-234U and 14C ages obtained by mass spectrometry on corals. Radiocarbon 35(1):191–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bien, GS, Rakestraw, NW, Suess, HE. 1960. Radiocarbon concentration in Pacific Ocean water. Tellus 12:436–43.Google Scholar
Broecker, WS. 1963. 14C/12C ratios in surface ocean water. Nuclear Geophysics 1963:138–49.Google Scholar
Broecker, WS. 1979. A revised estimate for the radiocarbon age of North Atlantic Deep Water. Journal of Geophysical Research 84:3218–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, WS, Klas, M, Clark, E, Trumbore, S, Bonani, G, Wolfli, W, Ivy, S. 1990. Accelerator mass spectrometric measurements on foraminifera shells from deep sea cores. Radiocarbon 32(2):119–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, WS, Peng, T-H. 1982. Tracers in the sea. Eldigio Press.Google Scholar
Broecker, WS, Peng, T-H, Ostlund, G, Stuiver, M. 1985. The distribution of bomb radiocarbon in the ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research 90:6953–70.Google Scholar
Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Donahue, DJ, Druffel, ERM, Taylor, FW. 1992. Mass spectrometric 14C and U-Th measurements in coral. Radiocarbon 34(3):611–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, H, Adkins, JF, Edwards, RL, Boyle, EA. 2000. U-Th dating of deep-sea corals. Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta 64:2401–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donahue, DJ, Linick, TW, Jull, AJT. 1990. Isotope ratio and background corrections for accelerator mass spectrometry radio carbon measurements. Radiocarbon 32(2):135–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, EM, Linick, TW. 1978. Radiocarbon in annual coral rings of Florida. Geophysical Research Letters 5(11):913–6.Google Scholar
Druffel, ERM, Bauer, JE, Williams, PM, Griffin, S, Wolgast, D. 1996. Seasonal variabiltiy of particulate organic radiocarbon in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Reseach 101: 20,543–52.Google Scholar
Duplessy, J-C, Arnold, M, Bard, E, Juillet-Leclerc, A, Kallel, N, Labeyrie, L. 1989. AMS 14C study of transient events and of the ventilation rate of the Pacific intermediate water during the last deglaciation. Radiocarbon 31(3):493–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, LR, Beck, WJ, Burr, GS, Donahue, DJ, Chappell, JMA, Bloom, AL, Druffel, ERM, Taylor, FW. 1993. A large drop in atmospheric 14C/12C and reduced melting in the Younger Dryas, documented with 230Th ages of corals. Science 260:962–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fonselius, S, Ostlund, G. 1959. Natural radiocarbon measurements on surface water from the North Atlantic and the Arctic Sea. Tellus 11:77–82.Google Scholar
Goldstein, SJ, Lea, DW, Chakraborty, S, Kashgarian, M, Murrell, MT. 2001. Uranium-series and radiocarbon geochronology of deep-sea corals: implications for Southern Ocean ventilation rates and the oceanic carbon cycle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 193: 167–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, S, Druffel, ERM. 1989. Sources of carbon to deep-sea corals. Radiocarbon 31(3): 533–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughen, KA, Overpeck, JT, Lehman, SJ, Kashgarian, M, Southon, J, Peterson, LC, Alley, R, Sigman, DM. 1998. Deglacial changes in ocean circulation from an extended radiocarbon calibration. Nature 391:65–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangini, A, Lomitschka, M, Eichstadter, R, Frank, N, Vogler, S, Bonani, G, Hajdas, I, Patzold, J. 1998. Coral provides way to age deep water. Nature 392:347–8.Google Scholar
Shackleton, NJ, Duplessy, J-C, Arnold, M, Maurice, P, Hall, MA, Cartlidge, J. 1988. Radiocarbon age of the last glacial Pacific deep water. Nature 335:708–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, GT, Boyle, EA. 1988. Determination of lead, cadmium and other trace metals in anually-banded corals. Chemical Geology 67:47–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stocker, TF, Wright, DG. 1996. Rapid changes in ocean circulation and atmospheric radiocarbon. Paleoceanography 11:773–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Quay, PM, Ostlund, HG. 1983. Abyssal water carbon-14 distribution and the age of the world oceans. Science 219:849–51.Google Scholar
Vogel, JS, Nelson, DE, Southon, JR. 1987. 14C background levels in an accelerator mass spectrometry system. Radiocarbon 29:323–33Google Scholar