Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-qls9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-04T14:44:39.998Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sample Preparation at the Jena 14C Laboratory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2017

A Steinhof ,
M Altenburg  and
H Machts
A Steinhof*
Affiliation:
Max-Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
M Altenburg
Affiliation:
Max-Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
H Machts
Affiliation:
Max-Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The different categories of samples and their treatments at the radiocarbon (14C) laboratory in Jena, Germany, are described. The Jena 14C laboratory is dedicated to studying the global carbon cycle through the analysis of soil, plant, gas, charcoal, and wood samples. The respective preparation procedures for different samples types are presented, including wet-chemistry pretreatments for soil decalcification, charcoal purification using an acid–base–oxidation procedure (ABOx), and α-cellulose extraction from wood and leaves. In particular, investigations of the background corrections for each sample type are emphasized. Furthermore, an investigation of the contamination resulting from the storage of graphite is presented. Four storage conditions are investigated for storage times up to 30 months.

Keywords

backgroundcharcoalpretreatmentsoilswood
Type
Chemical Pretreatment Approaches
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , June 2017 , pp. 815 - 830
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.)

Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

REFERENCES

Aerts Bijma, AT, van der Plicht, J, Meijer, HAJ. 2001. Automatic AMS sample combustion and CO2 collection. Radiocarbon 43(2A):293–298.Google Scholar
Bauer, JE, Williams, PM, Druffel, ERM. 1992. Recovery of sub-milligram quantities of carbon dioxide from gas streams by molecular sieves for subsequent determination of isotopic (13C and 14C) natural abundances. Analytical Chemistry 64:824–827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, MI, Ascough, PL. 2012. Isotopes in pyrogenic carbon: a review. Organic Geochemistry 42:1529–1539.Google Scholar
Bird, MI, Ayliffe, LK, Fifield, LK, Turney, CSM, Cresswell, RG, Barrows, TT, David, B. 1999. Radiocarbon dating of “old” charcoal using a wet oxidation, stepped-combustion procedure. Radiocarbon 41(2):127–140.Google Scholar
Bird, MI, Levchenko, V, Ascough, PL, Meredith, W, Wurster, CM, Williams, A, Tilston, EL, Snape, CE, Apperley, DC. 2014. The efficiency of charcoal decontamination for radiocarbon dating by three pre-treatments – ABOX, ABA and hypy. Quaternary Geochronology 22:25–32.Google Scholar
Brown, TA, Southon, JR. 1997. Corrections for contamination background in AMS 14C measurements. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 123:208–213.Google Scholar
Hoper, ST, McCormac, FG, Hogg, AG, Higham, TFG, Head, MJ. 1998. Evaluation of wood pretreatments on oak and cedar. Radiocarbon 40(1):45–50.Google Scholar
Le Clercq, M, van der Plicht, J, Groning, M. 1998. New 14C reference materials with activities of 15 and 50 pMC. Radiocarbon 40(1):295–297.Google Scholar
Loader, NJ, Robertson, I, Barker, AC, Switsur, VR, Waterhouse, JA. 1997. An improved technique for the wheel processing of small wholewood samples to alpha-cellulose. Chemical Geology 136:313–317.Google Scholar
Muhr, J, Angert, A, Negron-Juarez, RI, Munoz, WA, Kraemer, G, Chambers, JQ, Trumbore, SE. 2013. Carbon dioxide emitted from live stems of tropical trees is several years old. Tree Physiology 33:743–752.Google Scholar
Nadeau, M-J, Grootes, PM. 2013. Calculation of the compounded uncertainty of 14C AMS measurements. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 294:420–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, D, Been, HA, Aerts-Bijma, A, Meijer, HAJ. 2016. Contamination on AMS sample targets by modern carbon is inevitable. Radiocarbon 58(2):407–418.Google Scholar
Rozanski, K, Stichler, W, Confiantini, R, Scott, EM, Beukens, RP, Kromer, B, van der Plicht, J. 1992. The IAEA 14C intercomparision exercise 1990. Radiocarbon 34(3):506–519.Google Scholar
Schleicher, M, Grootes, MPM, Nadeau, MJ, Schoon, A. 1998. The carbonate 14C background and its components at the Leibnitz AMS facility. Radiocarbon 40(1):85.Google Scholar
Schuur, EAG, Vogel, JG, Crummer, KG, Lee, H, Sickman, JO, Osterkamp, TE. 2009. The effect of permafrost thaw on old carbon release and net carbon exchange from tundra. Nature 459:556–559.Google Scholar
Steinhof, A. 2013. Data analysis at the Jena 14C laboratory. Radiocarbon 55(2–3):282–293.Google Scholar
Steinhof, A, Adamiec, G, Gleixner, G, van Klinken, GJ, Wagner, T. 2004. The new 14C analysis laboratory in Jena, Germany. Radiocarbon 46(1):51–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinhof, A, Baatzsch, A, Hejja, I, Wagner, T. 2011. Ion source improvements at the Jena 14C-AMS facility. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 269:3196–3198.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Burk, RL, Quay, PD. 1984. 13C/12C ratios in tree rings and the transfer of biospheric carbon to the atmosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research 89(11):731–748.Google Scholar
Tans, PP, de Jong, AFM, Mook, WG. 1978. Chemical pretreatment and radial flow of 14C in tree rings. Nature 271:234–235.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 5:289–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogel, JS, Nelson, DE, Southon, JR. 1987. 14C background levels in an accelerator mass-spectrometer system. Radiocarbon 29(3):323–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar