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Problems and Possible Solutions Concerning Radiocarbon Dating of Surface Marine Sediments, Ross Sea, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John T. Andrews ,
Eugene W. Domack ,
Wendy L. Cunningham ,
Amy Leventer ,
Kathy J. Licht ,
A. J. Timothy Jull ,
David J. DeMaster  and
Anne E. Jennings
John T. Andrews
Affiliation:
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309
Eugene W. Domack
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, 13323
Wendy L. Cunningham
Affiliation:
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309
Amy Leventer
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, 13346
Kathy J. Licht
Affiliation:
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309
A. J. Timothy Jull
Affiliation:
NSF AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721
David J. DeMaster
Affiliation:
Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-8208
Anne E. Jennings
Affiliation:
INSTAAR and Department of Geological Sciences, Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309
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Abstract

Radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometric (AMS) dates on the acid-insoluble fraction from 38 core tops from the western Ross Sea, Antarctica, are used to address these questions: (1) What are the apparent ages of sediments at or close to the present sediment/water interface? (2) Is there a statistically significant pattern to the spatial distribution of core top ages? and (3) Is there a “correction factor” that can be applied to these age determinations to obtain the best possible Holocene (downcore) chronologies? Ages of core top sediments range from 2000 to 21,000 14C yr B.P. Some “old” core top dates are from piston cores and probably represent the loss of sediment during the coring process, but some core top samples >6000 14C yr B.P. may represent little or no Holocene deposition. Four possible sources of variability in dates ≤6000 14C yr B.P. (n = 28) are associated with (1) different sample preparation methods, (2) different sediment recovery systems, (3) different geographic regions, and (4) within-sample lateral age variability. Statistical analysis on an a posteriori design indicates that geographic area is the major cause of variability; there is a difference in mean surface sediment age of nearly 2000 yr between sites in the western Ross Sea and sites east of Ross Bank in south-central Ross Sea. The systematic variability in surface age between areas may be attributed to: (a) variable sediment accumulation rates (SAR) (surface age is inversely related to SAR), (b) differences in the percentage of reworked (dead) carbon between each area, and/or (c) differences in the CO2 exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere.

Keywords

radiocarbon datingRoss Seamarine surface sediments
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , September 1999 , pp. 206 - 216
Copyright
University of Washington

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