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Radiocarbon Measurements of Particulates in Smog

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Rainer Berger ,
R M Johnson  and
J R Holmes
Rainer Berger
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Depts of Anthropology, and Geography, UCLA
R M Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Space Sciences, UCLA
J R Holmes
Affiliation:
State of California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, 95812
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Abstract

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In recent years in California, smog aerosols have been observed in metropolitan and rural areas. We wondered what the relative contribution is from sources such as fossil fuel combustion (eg, cars, factories) and emissions from trees and other plants. Pollution produced by fossil fuel combustion can be distinguished from biological sources using radioactive carbon. Carbon in fossil organic materials is radioactively dead whereas carbon in living plants contains 14C. Smog particles were collected on clean glass or quartz fiber paper and analyzed in a small volume CO2 proportional counter for 14C content. Results are given for sampling locations at UCLA, El Monte, Riverside, and Lake Tahoe showing the relative contributions of fossil and modern carbon sources ranging from 0 to 74% and 26 to 100% respectively.

Type
VI. Anthropogenic 14C Variations
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 25 , Issue 2: 11th International Radiocarbon Conference , 1983 , pp. 615 - 620
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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