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Mass Spectrometric 14C and U-Th Measurements in Coral

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

G. S. Burr ,
R. L. Edwards ,
D. J. Donahue ,
E. R. M. Druffel  and
F. W. Taylor
G. S. Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
R. L. Edwards
Affiliation:
Minnesota Isotope Laboratory, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
D. J. Donahue
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
E. R. M. Druffel
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA
F. W. Taylor
Affiliation:
Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78759 USA
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Abstract

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We discuss U-Th and 14C measurements in coral. Samples with U-Th dates in excess of 50 ka BP were chosen for study. Some bulk samples from this group have measurable 14C dates, which range from 30 ka to 43 ka bp. These can be explained by 0.5–2.5% contamination by modern carbon. This small amount of contamination can produce significant offsets in 14C dates of coral samples older than ≃10 ka. It may be undetectable in X-ray powder diffraction patterns. We describe a sample pretreatment that removes the modern carbon by selective dissolution and produces accurate 14C dates.

Type
II. Applied Isotope Geochemistry
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 34 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 14th International Radiocarbon Conference , 1992 , pp. 611 - 618
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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