Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:43:11.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rapid Preparation of Seawater ΣCO2 for Radiocarbon Analysis at the National Ocean Sciences Ams Facility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

A.P. McNichol ,
G. A. Jones ,
D. L. Hutton ,
A. R. Gagnon  and
R. M. Key
A.P. McNichol
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA
G. A. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA
D. L. Hutton
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA
A. R. Gagnon
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA
R. M. Key
Affiliation:
Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences, Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08544 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.

We have established a laboratory for extracting ΣCO2 from seawater samples for AMS analysis of the radiocarbon content. The seawater samples are collected at sea, poisoned and stored until analysis in the laboratory. Each sample is acidified; the inorganic carbon is stripped out as CO2 with an inert carrier gas and then converted to graphite. We present results for Buzzards Bay surface H2O and Na2CO3 standards that demonstrate we strip >98% of inorganic carbon from seawater. Stable isotope analyses are performed to better than 0.2‰, and the reproducibility of 14C measurements on Buzzards Bay seawater is better than 13‰. Finally, we compare data from samples collected in 1991 to those collected in the 1970s and to large volume samples.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , 1994 , pp. 237 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Bard, E., Arnold, M., Maurice, P. and Duplessy, J.-C. 1987 Measurements of bomb radiocarbon in the ocean by means of accelerator mass spectrometry: Technical aspects. In Gove, H. E., Litherland, A. E. and Elmore, D., eds., Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B29: 297–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bard, E., Arnold, M., Östlund, H. G., Maurice, P., Monfray, P. and Duplessy, J.-C. 1988 Penetration of bomb radiocarbon in the tropical Indian Ocean measured by means of accelerator mass spectrometry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 87: 379–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dörr, H. and Münnich, K. O. 1980 Carbon-14 and carbon-13 in soil CO2 . In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 10th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 22(3): 909–918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goyet, D. and Hacker, S. D. 1992 Procedure for calibration of a coulometric system used for total inorganic carbon measurements of seawater. Marine Chemistry 38: 37–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G. A., Gagnon, A. R., Schneider, R. J., von Reden, K. F. and McNichol, A. P. 1994 High-precision AMS radiocarbon measurements of central Arctic Ocean seawaters. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B92: 426–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, T., Corry, C. and Stalcup, M., eds. 1991 WOCE Operations Manual. Part 3.1.2, Requirements for WHP Data Reporting. Woods Hole, Massachusetts, WHPO Publication 90–1: 71 p.Google Scholar
Kromer, B., Pfleiderer, C., Schlosser, P., Levin, I., Münnich, K. O., Bonani, G., Suter, M. and Wölfi, W. 1987 AMS 14C measurements of small volume oceanic water samples: Experimentation procedure and comparison with low-level counting technique. In Gove, H. E., Litherland, A. E. and Elmore, D., eds., Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B29: 302–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNichol, A. P., Gagnon, A. R., Jones, G. A. and Osborne, E. A. 1992 Illumination of a black box: Analysis of gas composition during graphite target preparation. In Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 14th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 34(3): 321–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNichol, A. P. and Jones, G. A. 1991 Measuring 14C in seawater ΣCO2 by accelerator mass spectrometry, WHP operations and methods. In Joyce, T., Corry, C. and Stalcup, M., eds. 1991 WOCE Operations Manual. Part 3.1.2, Requirements for WHP Data Reporting. Woods Hole, Massachusetts, WHPO Publication 90–1: 71 p.Google Scholar
Osborne, E. A., McNichol, A. P., Gagnon, A. R., Hutton, D. L. and Jones, G. A. 1994 Internal and external checks in the NOSAMS Facility Sample Preparation Laboratory for target quality and homogeneity. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B92: 158–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Östlund, H. G. 1992 Discoverer CGC91 Cruise: Radiocarbon result. Tritium Laboratory Data Release. Miami, Florida, RSMAS, #92–15.Google Scholar
Östlund, H. G., Craig, H., Broecker, W. S and Spencer, D. 1987 GEOSECS Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean Expeditions. Vol. 7. Shorebased Data and Graphics. Washington, D.C., National Science Foundation: 200 p.Google Scholar
Östlund, H. G., Possnert, G. and Swift, J. H. 1987 Ventilation rate of the deep Arctic Ocean from carbon 14 data. Journal of Geophysical Research 93: 3769–3777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlosser, P., Pfleiderer, C., Kromer, B., Levin, I., Münnich, K. O., Bonani, G., Suter, M. and Wölfli, W. 1987 Measurement of small volume oceanic 14C samples by accelerator mass spectrometry. Radiocarbon 29(3): 347–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Polach, H. A. 1977 Discussion: Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3): 355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar