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Radiocarbon Dating of Porewater – Correction for Diffusion and Diagenetic Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Orit Sivan ,
Barak Herut ,
Yoseph Yechieli  and
Boaz Lazar
Orit Sivan*
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem 95501, Israel
Barak Herut
Affiliation:
Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, National Institute of Oceanography, Haifa 31080, Israel
Yoseph Yechieli
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem 95501, Israel
Boaz Lazar
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel The Moshe Shilo Minerva Center for Marine Biogeochemistry, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

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Two simple algorithms are suggested here to correct for the effect of diffusion and diagenetic sulfate reduction on radiocarbon age determination of marine porewater. The correction algorithms were developed from mass balances of sulfate, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and 14C of the DIC (14CDIC) in vertical concentrations profiles in porewater starting from the sediment water interface. The algorithms were tested on data collected during our recent study of sediment porewaters extracted from the deep Eastern Mediterranean. The real ages of these porewaters varied from present (top of the core) to approximately 30 ka BP (bottom of the core) covering most of the dynamic range of the 14C method (approximately 5 half lives). These ages were markedly older than the ages calculated from 14CDIC analyses by the regular age equation.

It is clearly demonstrated that in this case the correction of the apparent age for diffusion across the sediment/water interface is overwhelmingly larger than the correction for the effect of sulfate reduction. The correction for the effect of 14C diffusion alone results in a perfect match between the calculated apparent 14C ages and the real ages of porewater and therefore is the preferred algorithm for correcting apparent ages of porewater.

Type
II. Our ‘Wet’ Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 43 , Issue 2B: Proceedings of the 17th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 3), Conference Editors: Israel Carmi, Elisabetta Boaretto , 2001 , pp. 765 - 771
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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