Huon pine is endemic to Tasmania. It has well-defined annual rings, may live for over 2000 years, and is particularly resistant to decay. Celery-top pine has similar characteristics and may live for 800 years. As part of a multi-disciplinary study of these trees and their habitat, a simple wood pretreatment method for isotope analysis is described. The solvent-acid-alkali-acid sequence yields a value of Δ14C = −16 ± 6‰ for AD 1941–45 Huon pine heartwood; Δ14C for extracts containing various proportions of post-AD 1955 carbon are also presented. Δ14C measurements on super-canopy and sub-canopy leaves from Celery-top pines are compared and used to place an upper limit of 10% on the amount of sub-canopy CO2 assimilated by sapling leaves, originating from decaying litter-mass. 14C ages from well-preserved logs illustrate the potential for a continuous Holocene chronology from 7400 years BP to the present. A 12,000-year-old Celery-top log has also been found.

This paper is the third of a series detailing the general features of 14C distribution in the world oceans. In the preceding papers, we discussed the 14C activities of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean waters (Stuiver and Östlund, 1980; Östlund and Stuiver, 1980). We now give an outline of the 14C distribution of the Indian Ocean and profiles for one Mediterranean and three Red Sea stations.

14C activity measurements were used to investigate the growth pattern of the stem of a palm tree (Cocos nucifera) which does not form annual rings. The results reveal that there was no diffuse secondary growth (thickening of the stem) over the entire mature stem during the last 25 years of growth, with the exception of a restricted zone in the center at medium height.

14C ages were obtained for the Australian lakes recorded below in order to complement research into their magnetic stratigraphy and sedimentology. It has been possible to establish precise 14C chronologies in six separate lakes, and also to compare ages obtained from stratigraphically equivalent horizons in different parts of the same lake so as to determine the reproducibility of these ages.

13C and 14C analyses were performed on a series of modern Jamaican land snails in order to quantitatively determine the sources of shell carbon. A model of these carbon sources, the pathways by which carbon reaches the shell, and the fractionation processes involved are presented. The contribution of limestone to shell carbonate is variable but may comprise up to 33% of the shell. About 25–40% of shell carbonate is derived from plants and about 30–60% from atmospheric CO2. Variation among populations and species with respect to 13C and 14C is attributed to the effects of limestone incorporation, snail size (as it affects CO2 exchange rate), physiological characteristics (presence of urease, respiration rate), and activity patterns of the snails. A formula for correction for isotopic fractionation of 14C of shell carbonate, based on 13C measurements, is derived. Bicarbonate-aragonite fractionation is apparently very minimal. Shell organic carbon appears to be derived largely from plants but also to a lesser extent from inorganic hemolymph carbon. This introduces the possibility of a small age anomaly of shell organic 14C due to limestone incorporation.

The tree-ring program at Belfast originally aimed at the construction of a 6000-year oak chronology. The stimulus for this work came from the large numbers of sub-fossil oaks uncovered in Northern Ireland during land drainage and motorway construction in the late 1960's (Pilcher et al 1977). It became clear that any attempt to build such a long chronology would break naturally into two distinct units. One unit related to the construction of a prehistoric (BC era) chronology dependent on the sampling of large numbers of essentially random sub-fossil timbers. For this unit to be successful, timbers would have to survive relatively uniformly through time. The second chronology building unit was related principally to the AD era, with a natural extension into the first millennium BC at least. This unit was envisaged as the link between the present day and the necessarily floating sub-fossil chronologies. This AD chronology was based on modern, historic, and archaeologic timbers.

The following list consists of dates for archaeologic and geologic samples mostly measured from June 1981 to June 1982. The dates were obtained by liquid scintillation counting of benzene using the laboratory procedures outlined in previous lists (see, eg, BM-VIII, R, 1976, v 18, p 16). Dates are expressed in radiocarbon years relative to ad 1950 based on the Libby half-life for 14C of 5570 yr, and are corrected for isotopic fractionation (δ13C values are relative to PDB). No corrections have been made for natural 14C variations (although in some instances approximate calibrated dates taken from the tables of R M Clark (1975) have been given in the comments where this aids interpretation of results). The modern reference standard is NBS oxalic acid (SRM 4990). Errors quoted with dates are based on counting statistics alone and are equivalent to ± 1 standard deviation (± 1σ). Descriptions, comments, and references to publications are based on information supplied by submitters.

Bi-decade samples of dendrochronologically matched Irish Oak, measured with a precision of ca ± 20 years, covering the period 200 to 4000 BC are presented. The data are compared with the published data of Suess, de Jong, and Mook to provide a general calibration of the 14C time scale for this period. Although the dendrochronologic sequences presented are not absolutely tied to present, the best fit (based on 14C evidence) of the Belfast data to absolute chronologies, the error and evidence associated with such positioning is given. The intervals chosen for analysis were 20 years, reducing slightly the resolution of short-term variations when compared to 10-year intervals, which are sometimes measured. However, this calibration would suffice for most scientific purposes and certainly for the calendrical conversion of 14C dates derived from archaeologic samples.

This list includes most of the measurements made in 1979 through 1981 and some values obtained during preceding years. The reporting of results, their calculation (half-life: 5570 ± 0, standard 13C correction only for bones), and the dilution ratios are as previously described in Lyon VIII (R, 1979, v 21, p 402–452).

The Instituto de Geocronología Geología Isotópica (INGEIS) belongs to the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientifícas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina and is supported by another six government institutions. Its headquarters are located in the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales of the Universidad de Buenos Aires.

The high-precision 14C measurement of bi-decade and decade samples of Irish Oak for the time period AD 50 to 1830 is presented. The samples were taken from dendrochronologically dated Irish Oak providing an absolute chronology for this period. While the natural atmospheric 14C concentration shows cyclic deviations from a constant value, the amplitudes of such deviations vary considerably. Repeated measurement and interlaboratory checks justify a claim to accuracy in the data given. Comparison of a large number of data sets between Belfast and Seattle show that the different techniques of scintillation counting of 14C6H6 and gas counting of 14CO2 derived from different wood species grown in different continents give no significant bias. Thus, it is justifiable to use this data set as a high-precision calibration curve for the AD period. Over most of this period bi-decade samples were measured giving a slightly reduced resolution of short-term variation when compared to the measurement of decade intervals; however, any difference is not apparent when such curves are compared. It is of much greater importance that a comparison of data sets is without bias if a combined calibration curve is to have sufficient integrity for general use. Averaging the data from Belfast and Seattle would improve the validity of such an AD 14C calibration curve since it would tend to smooth out slight local variations and become internationally more acceptable.

The measurements reported in this date list form the chronometric framework for obsidian hydration and trade studies in California (Ericson, 1975; 1977; 1978; 1981; Ericson et al, 1975; Singer and Ericson, 1977). All samples were analyzed as CO2 gas at close to 1 atm in a 7.5L proportional counter with three energy channels. Radiocarbon ages are based by convention on the 5568 ± 30 yr half-life. The biospheric standard is 95% the count rate of NBS oxalic acid for radiocarbon laboratories. Background is based on CO2 obtained from marble. Counter operation is checked against a historically dated wood sample from the funerary boat of Sesostris III, 1872 +4−8 BC (Hayes, 1962). All samples were subjected to accepted NaOH, HCl or other special chemical treatments to exclude contamination. No tree-ring calibration was applied to any of the samples listed.

The following list contains most of the measurements of geologic samples made during 1979 and 1980 using carbon-dioxide-filled proportional counters. Samples with laboratory numbers > 1000 were counted with counter No. 1 (L1), and those with numbers < 1000, with counter No. 3 (L3), described by Mościcki and Zastawny (1977). Actual parameters of both counters were given in our previous date list (R, 1982, v 24, p 172).

This list contains the results of 14C age determinations obtained at the laboratory in 1981–1982. Samples are analyzed in three new proportional counters which are described in R, 1980, v 22, p 442. Our installation differs from that of Heidelberg in that our filling gas is methane.

The Hohenheim Tree-Ring Laboratory has extended the Holocene oak tree-ring chronology back to prehistoric times by analyses of subfossil tree trunks from gravel deposits along the rivers of central Europe. Hundreds of subfossil oaks can be collected each year because of widespread gravel quarrying. Despite this nearly continuous source of samples (at present, 2200 trees are analyzed), even within these deposits some limitations do exist in linking together a Holocene tree-ring sequence.

The following radiocarbon dates are a partial list of samples measured for a variety of projects and materials since August 1980. Chemical and counting procedures remain the same as indicated in R, v 20, p 274–282.

Most of the 14C measurements reported here were made between October 1981 and October 1982. Equipment, measurement, and treatment of samples are as reported previously (R, 1968, v 10, p 36–37; 1976, v 18, p 290; 1980, v 22, p 1045).

The analyses in this list were performed between 1977 and 1979. The laboratory utilizes gas counting of carbon dioxide in counters installed 9.5 meters below the ground surface for background reduction. The reported results closely follow the guidelines of Stuiver and Polach (1977), although the standard error for analyses earlier than USGS-500 are based solely upon counting statistics and do not include uncertainty in voltage, pressure, temperature, and δ13C.