Results of 14C/12C ratio measurements on CO2 extracted from air bubbles in polar ice are presented. The samples investigated originate from the Dye 3, South Greenland, deep ice core and span approximately the last 10,000 years. The results are calibrated with tree-ring records. The 14C ages are compared with information obtained from seasonal variations of ice-core parameters and rheologic model calculation.

14C ages were determined on samples of foraminifera separated from cores from three areas of the tropical Pacific (East Pacific Rise, Oontong Java Plateau, and South China Sea). Analyses were made on four planktonic species and on mixed benthics. The purpose of the multiple analysis on planktonic species is to assess the importance of artifacts resulting from the bioturbation-abundance change couple, from the bioturbation-partial dissolution couple and from redeposition by bottom currents. The goal is to use the benthic-planktonic age difference as a means of establishing changes in deep sea ventilation rate over the past 25,000 years. Results of a part of this work are presented in this paper.

It is a well-established fact that 14C dates from lake sediments are usually too old because of contamination with allochthonous material and/or due to discrete reservoir effects. The latter can occur in soft water lakes and may be examined by the 14C measurement of aqueous plants or the carbon dissolved and suspended in the water column.

Some plants assimilate CO2 from the sediment. Their 14C activity is then dependent on the sediment accumulation rate and nutrients stored in the root system may also contribute misleading results. If water is filtered through ultra-fine membranes and then treated chemically, several fractions can be isolated for dating. The present study shows that the 14C activity of such fractions varies widely but with the weighted mean indicating an overall deficiency. Even the water from a raised bog evidences a 14C deficiency relative to contemporary atmospheric CO2.

Charcoal from an archaeologic site and peat from corresponding layers in a nearby bog have yielded significantly different ages. The fact that the Cladium peat was from a very calcareous area is significant. The risk of contamination by younger root material is also documented.

The 14C activity of total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) as well as tritium activity and stable isotope content (13C, 2H, 18O) of spring water were measured for 3 consecutive years at 3 karst springs that feed Plitvice Lakes, NW Yugoslavia. The constant chemical and stable isotope composition and temperature indicated well mixed aquifers. A very short mean residence time of underground water (2–5 yr) was determined by tritium activity measurements. Measured C activities of 3 karst springs varied from 60.0% to 82.5%. The measured C activities were compared with calculated 14C activities based on various models using measured values of C activity of soil at different depths and 13C content of limestone, plants, and soils from the recharge area. Our measurements indicate that recharge systems in karst aquifers are open to the atmosphere. The atmospheric CO2 contributes to the 13C content and the C activity of ground water to an estimated extent which varies between 10 and 40% of DIC.

In 14C dating of sediment, the date of deposition is associated with its C age. Most sediments are complex mixtures containing little organic material frequently derived from several sources. The most conspicuous sources of error result from 1) the incorporation of “fossil” carbon (eg, graphite, lignite, etc) into a more recent sediment. This is particularly important in low carbon sediments (Olsson, 1972); 2) the incorporation of older, ‘reworked’ sedimentary material, eg, from terrigenous sources into a lacustrine environment (Schoute, Mook & Streuerman, 1983); 3) the dating of mainly autochthonous material which has metabolized carbon from dissolved bicarbonate carbonates originating from dissolution of fossil.

To provide more information for the 14C ages of components of a sediment, we have used the small sample capability (ie, > = 1 mg carbon) of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator to date specific fractions. Within the limitations of the ‘conventional’ method, different fractions in soils have been the subject of two investigations (Scharpenseel, 1979; Sheppard, Syed & Mehringer, 1979). In general the results show that a measurement on undifferentiated sediment may lead to serious errors in the 14C date, that specific fractions do not guarantee a better date for deposition, but nearly always provide valuable information on the particular history of the individual sediment in relation to its specific context. It is usually possible to estimate the occurrence of the first two sources of error listed above, but more difficult to quantify the extent of terrestrial input and “hard water” error.

14C dating of bone has been unreliable in comparison with more stable materials such as wood or charcoal. Attempts have been made to use various components or fractions isolated from the raw bone sample; these include dilute acid soluble, dilute acid insoluble, collagen, and gelatin, as well as alkali soluble and insoluble fractions of burned bone, and carbonate or apatite fractions of organic-poor bone. All of these fractions have yielded useful data in some cases, but no single method has proven suitable in all situations. The work reported here describes the isolation and purification of amino acids from the dilute acid insoluble fraction of bone collagen and parchment, with some preliminary experiments on amino acids from shell conchiolin.

14C dating of shells from terrestrial and freshwater mollusks is prone to distortion by post-depositional diagenesis as well as incorporation of material depleted in 14C while the mollusk was alive. Three types of diagenetic change can result: etching, the development of surface crusts, and replacement of aragonite by calcite. Inspection under the light microscope, x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscope make it possible to assess the relative importance of the changes. When they are confined to the surface, mechanical cleaning combined with judicious leaching can reduce them to <1% of the total sample. The corresponding errors, which can now be specified, are often no greater than those associated with the statistics of counting.

This review is based on geologic surveys carried out in Australia and China as well as on more than 300 14C dates published in Radiocarbon, Evaluated are the origins and pathways of carbonate formation, stable isotopic composition, carbonate nodule growth rates and paleo-climatic effects. The three identified δ 13C abundance peaks are unrelated to environment and carbon source whilst 14C ages group themselves into periods corresponding to past humid warm climate. It is concluded that the major error in caliche dating is due to incorporation of old limestone whilst error on nodule dating is related to their slow growth rate, Thus, caliche antedates and nodules postdate the times of their deposition. Delta 13C values cannot be used to correct for limestone or atmospheric contamination effects.

The Lubbock Lake site, on the Southern High Plains of Texas, contains one of the most complete and best-dated late Quaternary records in North America. A total of 117 14C dates arc available from the site, determined by the Smithsonian and SMU Laboratories. Of these dates, 84 have been derived from residues (humin) and humates (humic acids) of organic-rich marsh sediments and A horizons of buried soils. Most of the ages are consistent with dates determined on charcoal and wood, and with the archaeologic and stratigraphic record. The dates on the marsh sediments are approximate points in time. Dates from the top of buried A-horizons are a maximum for burial and in many cases are close to the actual age of burial. Dates from the base of the A-horizons are a minimum for the beginning of soil formation, in some cases as much as several thousand years younger than the initiation of pedogenesis. A few pairs of dates were obtained from humin and humic acid derived from split samples; there are no consistencies in similarities or differences in these age pairs. It also became apparent that dates determined on samples from scraped trench walls or excavations that were left open for several years are younger than dates from samples taken from exactly the same locations when the sampling surfaces were freshly excavated.

The carbonate skeletons of small living corals collected in Spring 1981 from Cebu Island, the Philippines, had 14C activities up to 147% of recent standard. Similarly high values were found in the carbonate structure of three large coral heads, where the 14C content of six penetrating cores was measured. In these corals the activity of the outer parts grown since 1960 reached values as high as 155% (corrected for δ13C = − 25‰) while the inner part grown from 1860 to 1950 had values of 106 to 110%. The 14C content of corals should be ca 116% due to the atomic bomb effect and 95% before 1955. The samples were taken from the shore, exposed to tidal waters, so that local contamination is improbable. Organic samples collected from the same region showed normal 14C activity.

Samples of sediment cores from two lakes in the karst area of northwest Yugoslavia were analyzed. Both Lakes Kozjak and Prošće are in the Plitvice National Park, Central Croatia. 14C dating, sedimentologic, seismic, and isotopic studies, and distribution of diatoms are presented.

14C dating of lake marl revealed a uniforn sedimentation rate in Lake Prošće as opposed to Lake Kozjak. Both lake sediments belong to the Holocene period. 14C dating of lake sediment is in agreement with seismic profiles, sedimentologic analysis, and diatom frequency measurements both in an undisturbed as well as in a disturbed lake sediment.

Dense speleothem samples are considered as closed systems and are, therefore, possibilities for any dating method. Four dating methods (14C, U/Th, paleomagnetism, and electron spin resonance = ESR) were used for samples up to 1,000,000 yr old and taken along a vertical flowstone profile in the Heggen cave in West Germany. Also δ18O and δ13C analyses were carried out.

The reliability of the results of each method is dependent on the diagenetic processes that took place during the complex growth history of the flowstone. Speleothem growth was interrupted during glacial periods. During interglacial periods, at least the stalagmite growth rate was greater by one order of magnitude than during interstadial periods. During the periods of low interstadial growth rate various processes might have changed the 14C, 18O, and 13C concentrations, leaching might have removed uranium, recrystallization might have moved thorium several centimeters, and increased content of radon in the cave might have exaggerated the accumulated dose (AD) at the speleothem surface. As a result, 14C ages may be too small and U/Th as well as ESR data may be too large.

Two principal reasons for the inherent uncertainty in 14C dating of calcareous sediments such as tufa or those of lacustrine origin are the unknown initial 14C activity (Ao) of the sediment, mainly affecting younger (Holocene) samples, and contamination of older sediments with recent carbonate, causing 14C ages to be excessively young. To assess the contamination effect, samples of old tufa from the Riss/Würm interglacial were examined. These sediments contain essentially no 14C except that contributed by surface contamination. Tufa samples were crushed and grains ranging in size from <1 mm, 1 to 2mm, up to 4 to 5mm were separated for analysis; 2M HCl was then used to dissolve the samples in successive steps. 14C measurements indicated that each subsequent soluble fraction obtained from porous tufa gave a successively older age, indicating that the surface of the sample was contaminated by younger carbonates. No consistent effect of grain size on the 14C age was observed. Compact tufa proved to be less subject to contamination. 14C ages obtained on this material were also too young, yet older than the age obtained from porous tufa samples.

14C ages of interglacial tufa were cross-checked with the 230Th/234U dating method, using samples of very clean calcite which overlies the tufa blocks. Inferred 230Th/234U ages of the interglacial tufa (which had yielded 14C dates ranging from 25,000 to 37,000 yr) coincided with the last interglacial (Riss/Würm, Stage 5). Samples of Holocene tufa, in which contributions of recent 14C from surface contamination would pose less of a problem, yielded 14C and 230Th/234U dates which were in excellent agreement.

Results of measurements for 3 years (1981–1983) of 14C activity of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIG) in water samples from the Korana River, as well as that of recent tufa and aquatic plants, showed that 14C concentration increases from karst spring to the estuary. A model describing the increase of 14C activity was developed assuming that the increase is due to the exchange of the dissolved CO2 in stream water with atmospheric CO2 and to dissolution of CO2 from the decay of organic material and root respiration. It is possible to distinguish these two contributions by measuring the δ13C values of DIC in water. As expected, our data show that the exchange process between atmospheric CO2 and DIC dominates at rapids and waterfalls, while biologic contribution is much higher in lakes and along the lowland flow of the Korana River. Agreement between the calculated and the measured activities supports the proposed mechanisms of chemical and isotopic exchanges in stream waters.

Radiocarbon dating at the Arizona accelerator facility has improved substantially in the last three years. Since starting to use graphite targets (see Jull et al, 1986), we have been able to obtain routinely a precision of ca ± 1% (ca 80 yr) for relatively modern material. Our routine technique of tuning and operating the tandem accelerator mass spectrometer (TAMS) and our method of calculating 14C results are discussed in detail. Data on activity ratios of oxalic acid-II/oxalic-I are presented. Examples of the wide variety of projects on which we have collaborated are given. Brief discussions of three such projects are presented for our colleagues who were unable to attend this conference: an Arizona Indian archaeologic project, a study of megafaunal extinctions, and a study of the growth of phosphorite nodules on the sea floor off the Peruvian coast.

14C dates of carbonate and organic matter fractions are compared with a series of calcareous tufa samples from selected sites representing different geochemical environments and associated with different bedrocks. Results obtained in this study indicate values of apparent age ranging from 940 ± 110 yr for calcareous tufas associated with Pleistocene sediments to 2000 ± 110 yr and even ca 4000 yr for tufas from sites associated with Jurassic or Cretaceous limestone. It was found also that within each of the investigated sites the value of apparent age does not change significantly with the age of the tufa layer.

Major discordances between AMS 14C- and aspartic acid racemization (AAR)-deduced age estimates on bone samples have led to an examination of factors other than time and temperature that can fundamentally influence the degree of racemization observed in fossil bone. Our studies support previous suggestions that for many bone samples the chemical state of amino acids must be routinely considered if AAR-deduced age estimates are to be used to make meaningful chronologic inferences.

We present the results of measurements of 26Al and 10Be produced in situ in 12 samples of Libyan Desert Glass by cosmic rays during the last ten million years. Based on the variability of the concentrations of 10Be and of the 26Al/10Be ratios we measured, we conclude that individual fragments of glass have experienced different exposure histories, implying several major redistributions of the glass within the past 106 years. The 26Al and 10Be concentrations are inconsistent with the theoretical estimates of the rates of in situ production. We estimate minimum production rates of 70 atoms g-1 yr-1 and 10 atoms g-1 yr-1 for 26Al and 10Be, respectively, produced in quartz at sea level between 60–90° latitude. Despite the present uncertainty in the rates of production, we feel that these results show clearly the effectiveness of in situ produced 26Al and 10Be in studying earth-surface processes.

A method of chemical separation and purification of chloride from relatively small samples (500 to 2100g) of glacial ice is presented. With this procedure the first successful measurements of pre-bomb levels of 36Cl in Greenland ice have been made. Emphasis is placed on methods of reducing sulfur, which causes interference in the accelerator mass spectrometry, and in maximizing the yield. Data regarding the selection of materials for sample holders and the use of metal powders for extending the lifetime of the sample are also presented.

The 14C dates of Kashmir loess-palaeosols form five clusters. The dates, mineral magnetic, stable isotopic, and pollen data help decipher major climatic oscillations as distinct from the minor ones.