Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T06:41:10.413Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Holocene Marine Radiocarbon Reservoir Correction for the Southern and Eastern Coasts of South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2017

Matjie L Maboya ,
Michael E Meadows ,
Paula J Reimer ,
Björn C Backeberg  and
Torsten Haberzettl
Matjie L Maboya*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental & Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa Physical Geography, Institute of Geography, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Löbdergraben 32, 07743 Jena, Germany
Michael E Meadows
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental & Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China
Paula J Reimer
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom Centre for Climate, the Environment & Chronology (14CHRONO), School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Björn C Backeberg
Affiliation:
Coastal Systems, Natural Resources and the Environment, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Jan Celliers Road, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Thormøhlens Gate 47, N-5006, Bergen, Norway
Torsten Haberzettl
Affiliation:
Physical Geography, Institute of Geography, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Löbdergraben 32, 07743 Jena, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The marine reservoir effect is the difference in radiocarbon (14C) between the atmosphere and the marine surface ocean. To overcome the dating errors induced, it is necessary to correct marine 14C ages for this effect. ΔR is the difference between the marine 14C age and the marine calibration curve based on an ocean-atmosphere box diffusion model, which accounts for the time delay in diffusion of carbon into the ocean from the atmosphere and biosphere. This global assessment, however, requires computation of a regional ∆R value for calibration to cater for studies based on a local scale. In this paper the marine reservoir effect is assessed for the southern and eastern coasts of South Africa using 14C dating on pre-1950 marine shells of known age. The resultant ∆R values enable a more complete understanding of the marine reservoir effect along the southern and eastern coastal zone of South Africa. 14C age determinations were conducted on 15 shell samples of known age and the results, combined with previously published values, were used to calculate regional marine reservoir correction values. The east coast has a weighted mean ∆R of 121±16 14C yr, while the south coast has a weighted mean ∆R of 187±18 14C yr.

Keywords

chronologymarine reservoir effectradiocarbon datingreservoir correctionSouth Africa
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 571 - 582
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ascough, PL, Cook, G, Dugmore, AJ. 2005. Methodological approaches to determining the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect. Progress in Physical Geography 4:532–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ascough, PL, Cook, GT, Church, MJ, Dugmore, AJ, Arge, SV, McGovern, TH. 2006. Variability in the North Atlantic marine radiocarbon reservoir effects at c. AD 1000. The Holocene 16(1):131–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkman, PA, Forman, SL. 1996. Pre-bomb radiocarbon and the reservoir correction for calcareous marine species in the Southern Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters 23(4):363–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, A, Thomas, DS, Meadows, ME, Chase, B. 2006. Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments of the winter-rainfall zone of southern Africa: palynological and sedimentological evidence from the Agulhas Plain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 239(1):147–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, BM, Boom, A, Carr, AS, Meadows, ME, Reimer, PJ. 2013. Holocene climate change in the southernmost South Africa: rock hyrax middens record shifts in the southern westerlies. Quaternary Science Reviews 82:199–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewar, G, Reimer, P, Sealy, J, Woodborne, S. 2012. Late-Holocene marine radiocarbon reservoir correction for the west coast of South Africa. The Holocene 22(12):1481–1489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dye, T. 1994. Appparent ages of marine shells: implications for archaeological dating in Hawaii. Radiocarbon 36(1):51–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, AE, Schumann, E. 1979. Topographically induced changes in the structure of an inertial coastal jet: application to the Agulhas Current. Journal of Physical Oceanography 9:975–1.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gründlingh, ML. 1983. On the course of the Agulhas Current. South African Geographical Journal 65:49–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harkness, DD. 1983. The extent of natural 14C deficiency in the coastal environment of the United Kingdom. PACT: Journal of the European Study Group on Physical, Chemical and Mathematical Techniques Applied to Archaeology 8:351–364.Google Scholar
Haberzettl, T, Baade, J, Compton, J, Daut, G, Dupont, L, Finch, J, Frenzel, P, Green, A, Hahn, A, Hebbeln, D, Helmschrot, J, Humphries, M, Kasper, T, Kirsten, K, Mäusbacher, R, Meadows, M, Meschner, S, Quick, L, Schefuß, E, Wündsch, M, Zabel, M. 2014. Paleoenvironmental investigations using a combination of terrestrial and marine sediments from South Africa – The RAIN (Regional Archives for Integrated iNvestigations) approach. Zbl. Geol. Paläont. Teil I, Jg (Heft 1):55–73.Google Scholar
Kirsten, K, Meadows, ME. 2012. Environmental changes along the southern Cape coast, South Africa during the last millennium: evidence from diatoms. Quaternary International 1:279–282.Google Scholar
Lutjeharms, JRE, Connell, AD. 1989. The Natal Pulse and inshore counter currents of the South African east coast. South African Journal of Science 85:533–535.Google Scholar
Lutjeharms, JRE, Cooper, J, Roberts, M. 2000a. Upwelling at the inshore edge of the Agulhas Current. Continental Shelf Research 20(7):737–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutjeharms, JRE, Valentine, HR, van Ballegooyen, RC. 2000b. The hydrography and water masses of the Natal Bight, South Africa. Continental Shelf Research 20(14):1907–1909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quick, L, Meadows, ME, Bateman, M, Kirsten, K, Mäusbacher, R, Haberzettl, T, Chase, B. 2016. Vegetation and climate dynamics during the last glacial period in the fynbos–afrotemperate forest ecotone, southern Cape, South Africa. Quaternary International 404(B):136–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, McCormac, FG. 2002. Marine radiocarbon reservoir corrections for the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Radiocarbon 44(1):159–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Reimer, RW. 2001. A marine reservoir correction database and on-line interface. Radiocarbon 43(2A):461–463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinwarth, B, Franz, S, Baade, J, Haberzettl, T, Kasper, T, Daut, G, Helmschrot, J, Kirsten, K, Quick, L, Meadows, M, Mäusbacher, R. 2013. A 700-year record on the effects of climate and human impact on the southern Cape coast inferred from lake sediments of Eilandvlei, Wilderness Embayment, South Africa. Geografiska Annaler:Series A, Physical Geography 95:345–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, N, Cook, GT, Ascough, P, Barrett, JH, Dugmore, A. 2011. Species specific marine radiocarbon reservoir effect:a comparison of ΔR values between Patella vulgata (limpet) shell carbonate and Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) bone collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:1008–1015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, WBF, Carbotte, SM, Coplan, J, O’Hara, SO, Melkonian, A, Arko, R, Weissel, RA, Ferrini, V, Goodwillie, A, Nitsche, F, Bonczkowski, J, Zemsky, R. 2009. Global Multi-Resolution Topography (GMRT) synthesis data set. Geochemistry. Geophysics. Geosystems 10:Q03014 doi: 10.1029/2008GC002332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, GM, Southon, JR, Druffel-Rodriguez, KC, Griffin, S, Mazon, M. 2004. Magnesium perchlorate as an alternative water trap in AMS graphite sample preparation: a report on sample preparation at KCCAMS at the University of California, Irvine. Radiocarbon 46(1):165–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southon, J, Kashgarian, M, Fontugne, M, Metivier, B, Yim, WW-S. 2002. Marine reservoir corrections for the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. Radiocarbon 44(1):67–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Braziunas, TF. 1993. Modeling atmospheric 14C influences and 14C ages of marine samples to 10,000 BC. Radiocarbon 35(1):137–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Pearson, GW, Braziunas, TF. 1986. Radiocarbon age calibration of marine samples back to 9000 cal yr BP. Radiocarbon 28(2B):980–1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Braziunas, TF. 1998. High-precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples. Radiocarbon 40(3):1127–1151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Ostlund, HG. 1983. GEOSECS Indian Ocean and Mediterranean radiocarbon. Radiocarbon 25(1):1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulm, S. 2002. Marine and estuarine reservoir effects in central Queensland, Australia: determination of ∆R values. Geoarchaeology 17:319–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogel, JS, Southon, JR, Nelson, DE, Brown, TA. 1984. Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass-spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 5(2):289–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wündsch, M, Haberzettl, T, Meadows, ME, Kirsten, KL, Kasper, T, Baade, J, Daut, G, Stoner, JS, Mäusbacher, R. 2016 . The impact of changing reservoir effects on the 14C chronology of a Holocene sediment record from South Africa. Quaternary Geochronology 36:148–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoneda, M, Uno, H, Shibata, Y, Suzuki, R, Kumamoto, Y, Yoshida, K, Sasaki, T, Suzuki, A, Kawahata, H. 2000. Pre-bomb marine reservoir ages in the western North Pacific: preliminary result on Kyoto University collection. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physical Research B172:377–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, Q, Dupont, L, Schefuss, E, Hahn, A, Meadows, ME, Wefer, G. 2016. Holocene vegetation and climate variability between winter and summer rainfall zones of South Africa. The Holocene 26:843–857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar