Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T09:19:37.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Radiocarbon Variations from Tasmanian Conifers: Results from Three Early Holocene Logs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Mike Barbetti
Affiliation:
The NWG Macintosh Centre for Quaternary Dating, Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia
Trevor Bird
Affiliation:
Trades Hall, 219 New Town Road, New Town, Tasmania 7008 Australia
George Dolezal
Affiliation:
The NWG Macintosh Centre for Quaternary Dating, Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia
Gillian Taylor
Affiliation:
The NWG Macintosh Centre for Quaternary Dating, Madsen Building F09, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia
Roger Francey
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Private Bag No. 1, Mordialloc, Victoria 3195 Australia
Edward Cook
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964 USA
Mike Peterson
Affiliation:
Forestry Corporation, Hobart, Tasmania 7001 Australia
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.

Dendrochronological studies are being carried out on two conifer species in the Stanley River area of western Tasmania. The chronology for Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii), with living trees up to 1400 yr old, extends back to 571 bc. Living celery-top pine (Phyllocladus aspleniifolius) trees are up to 500 yr old. Apart from living or recently felled trees, sections have been taken from 350 subfossil logs preserved in floodplain sediments. They range in age from >38 ka to modern, with good coverage for the periods 9–3.5 ka and from 2.5 ka to the present. We report here on 14C measurements of decadal samples from three early Holocene logs, between 10 and 9 ka bp, providing short (ca. 300-yr) records of atmospheric 14C variations when plotted against ring numbers. The southern hemisphere data from Tasmania can be compared and wiggle-matched with published 14C calibration curves from German oak and pine. One set of measurements covers the period, ca. 9280–8990 cal bp, overlapping the link between the Hohenheim “Main 9” and middle Holocene master oak chronologies. The other sets of measurements from Tasmania coincide; they span the period, ca. 9840–9480 cal bp, overlapping the end of the German Preboreal pine and the beginning of the oak chronologies. Our measurements confirm that this part of the calibration curve is a gently sloping 14C-age plateau (ca. 8900–8700 bp, between 10,000 and 9500 cal bp), and suggest interhemispheric 14C differences close to zero.

Type
III. Calibration of the 14C Time Scale
Copyright
Copyright © the Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona 

References

Barbetti, M., Bird, T., Dolezal, G., Taylor, G., Francey, R. J., Cook, E. and Peterson, M., 1992. Radiocarbon variations from Tasmanian conifers: First results from late Pleistocene and Holocene logs. In Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 14th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 34(3): 806817.Google Scholar
Becker, B. 1993 An 11,000-year German oak and pine dendrochronology for radiocarbon calibration. In Stuiver, M., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Calibration 1993. Radiocarbon 35(1): 201213.Google Scholar
Becker, B. and Kromer, B. 1993 The continental tree-ring record – absolute chronology, 14C calibration and climatic change at 11 ka. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 103: 6771.Google Scholar
Broecker, W. S. and Peng, T.-H. 1992 Interhemispheric transport of carbon dioxide by ocean circulation. Nature 356: 587589 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enting, I. G. and Mansbridge, J. V. 1987 The incompatibility of ice-core CO2 data with reconstructions of biotic CO2 sources. Tellus 39B: 318325.Google Scholar
Francey, R. J., Barbetti, M., Bird, T., Beardsmore, D., Coupland, W., Dolezal, J. E., Farquhar, G. D., Flynn, R. G., Fraser, P. J., Gifford, R. M., Goodman, H. S., Kunda, B., McPhail, S., Nanson, G., Pearman, G. I., Richards, N. G., Sharkey, T. D., Temple, R. B. and Weir, B. 1984 Isotopes in tree rings – Stanley River Collections 1981/82. CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Aspendale, Victoria. Technical Paper 4: 86 p.Google Scholar
Gupta, S. K. and Polach, H. A. 1985 Radiocarbon Dating Practices at ANU. Handbook, Research School of Pacific Studies, Canberra: 173 p.Google Scholar
Head, J. (ms.) 1979 Structure and chemical properties of fresh and degraded wood. M.Sc. thesis, Australian National University, Canberra: 103 p.Google Scholar
Kromer, B. and Becker, B. 1993 German oak and pine calibration, 7200–9400 bc. In Stuiver, M., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., 1993 Calibration 1993. Radiocarbon 35(1): 125135.Google Scholar
Kromer, B., Rhein, M., Bruns, M., Schoch-Fischer, H., Munnich, K. O., Stuiver, M. and Becker, B. 1986 Radiocarbon calibration data for the 6th to the 8th millennia bc. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds. Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 954960.Google Scholar
Lerman, J. C., Mook, W. G. and Vogel, J. C. 1970 14C in tree rings from different localities. In Olsson, I. U., ed., Radiocarbon Variations and Absolute Chronology. Proceedings of the 12th Nobel symposium. New York, John Wiley & Sons: 257299.Google Scholar
Levin, I., Bosinger, R., Bonani, G, Francey, R., Kromer, B., Munnich, K. O., Suter, M., Trivett, N. B. A. and Wolfli, W. 1992 Radiocarbon in atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane: Global distributions and trends. In Taylor, R. E., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Radiocarbon After Four Decades: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. New York, Springer-Verlag: 503518.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Kromer, B., Becker, B. and Ferguson, C. W. 1986 Radiocarbon age calibration back to 13,300 years bp and the 14C age matching of the German oak and U.S. bristlecone pine chronologies. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 969979.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., 1993 Calibration 1993. Radiocarbon 35(1): 1244.Google Scholar
Vogel, J. C., Fuls, A., Visser, E. and Becker, B., 1986 Radiocarbon fluctuations during the third millennium bc. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 935938.Google Scholar