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Biogenic carbonate samples: Preliminary tests on chemical protocols for radiocarbon analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2024

M I Oliveira ,
C Carvalho Open the ORCID record for C Carvalho [Opens in a new window] ,
D Tremmel Open the ORCID record for D Tremmel [Opens in a new window] ,
C Silveira ,
A A Brito ,
F M Oliveira Open the ORCID record for F M Oliveira [Opens in a new window] ,
V N Moreira Open the ORCID record for V N Moreira [Opens in a new window] ,
K Macario Open the ORCID record for K Macario [Opens in a new window] ,
L Bastos  and
M Moreira
...Show all authors
M I Oliveira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
C Carvalho*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
D Tremmel
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
C Silveira
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
A A Brito
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
F M Oliveira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Programa de Pós-graduação em Química, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
V N Moreira
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
K Macario
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Radiocarbono (LAC-UFF), Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n, Niterói, 24210-346, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
L Bastos
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Instrumentação Nuclear (LIN-COPPE). COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Av. Horácio Macedo, 2030, bloco I, sala I-133, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-914, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
M Moreira
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Geoquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Outeiro São João Batista, s/n, Niterói, 24210-141, Brazil
R T Lopes
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Instrumentação Nuclear (LIN-COPPE). COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Av. Horácio Macedo, 2030, bloco I, sala I-133, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-914, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*
Corresponding author: C Carvalho; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Most of the carbonate samples have a basic well-defined pretreatment protocol for 14C-AMS dating, but particularities of specific organisms have to be treated with care. This is the case of stromatolite samples, in which carbonate is formed by biogenesis and also has a porous structure that could contain recent organic material as a contaminant. In this work, we analyzed the differences in the radiocarbon content by using organic matter removals before chemical treatment with HCl: sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) a 0.7M solution with pH ∼11, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) an 8.8M solution with pH ∼5. These treatments were chosen because they are the most used in stromatolite samples for geochemical analysis. To compare the impact of the organic matter removal treatments in stromatolite samples we also processed them as regular carbonate samples for radiocarbon analysis, with no organic matter removal (control samples). X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence have been used to obtain mineral and elemental characterization, respectively. H2O2 could not influence the results of Mg-calcite concentrate samples. The use of NaOCl appears to have been effective in preserving more material than H2O2 independent of the mineralogical composition of the stromatolite layers. The F14C results after HCl etching for Mg-calcite concentrated samples were similar to those without etching suggesting that the HCl etching does not impact the results in this case. The organic matter removal is more important than the etching procedure for stromatolite samples. NaOCl is more indicated to be used as chemical pretreatment for radiocarbon analysis purposes independent of the mineral matrix of samples.

Keywords

14C-AMSetchingorganic matterstromatolite
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , February 2025 , pp. 111 - 121
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of University of Arizona

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