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Frequency Distribution of 14C Ages for Chronostratigraphic Reconstructions: Alaska Region Study Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Danuta J Michczyńska  and
Irka Hajdas
Danuta J Michczyńska*
Affiliation:
GADAM Centre of Excellence, Institute of Physics, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland
Irka Hajdas
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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In this study, we test the possibility of using databases of radiocarbon ages to estimate boundaries of climatic chronozones. The Alaska region was chosen and compared with chronozones of 2 European countries: Poland and the Netherlands. The study included setting up a database of 14C ages published for climatic records from Alaska. Some 974 14C determinations on organic samples were selected and used to establish chronozones for the Late Glacial and the Holocene for the Alaska region. The selected data were calibrated and a summed probability density function (PDF) was calculated. The shape analysis of the constructed frequency distribution of 14C dates on calendar timescales together with the assumption about preferential sampling seems to be a useful tool for establishing calendar ages for boundaries of climatic periods, i.e. chronozones.

Type
Calibration, Data Analysis, and Statistical Methods
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 52 , Issue 3: 20th Int. Radiocarbon Conference Proceedings , 2010 , pp. 1041 - 1055
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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