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Challenges in C-14 dating towards the limit of the method inferred from anchoring a floating tree ring radiocarbon chronology to ice core records around the Laschamp geomagnetic field minimum

Muscheler, Raimund LU orcid ; Adolphi, Florian LU and Svensson, Anders (2014) In Earth and Planetary Science Letters 394. p.209-215
Abstract
The C-14 dating method is the cornerstone for inferring age estimates for natural archives covering the last 50 000 yrs. However, C-14 age calibration for the last ice age relies mostly on records that only indirectly reflect the atmospheric C-14 concentrations. In consequence, calendar age estimates are significantly more uncertain for the period of the last ice age compared to the past 14000 yrs where tree-ring based calibration records exist. Here we connect a C-14 tree-ring chronology from Kauri trees in New Zealand to ice core Be-10 records via the common signal in the galactic cosmic ray flux around the period of the Laschamp geomagnetic field minimum (ca. 41 000 yrs BP). Synchronous changes of modelled C-14 and C-14 inferred from... (More)
The C-14 dating method is the cornerstone for inferring age estimates for natural archives covering the last 50 000 yrs. However, C-14 age calibration for the last ice age relies mostly on records that only indirectly reflect the atmospheric C-14 concentrations. In consequence, calendar age estimates are significantly more uncertain for the period of the last ice age compared to the past 14000 yrs where tree-ring based calibration records exist. Here we connect a C-14 tree-ring chronology from Kauri trees in New Zealand to ice core Be-10 records via the common signal in the galactic cosmic ray flux around the period of the Laschamp geomagnetic field minimum (ca. 41 000 yrs BP). Synchronous changes of modelled C-14 and C-14 inferred from U/Th-dated speleothems support the ice core chronology independently and suggest that the published ice core time scale errors are rather conservative for this period. Our analysis puts C-14 age determinations directly into the context of ice core climate records and it shows that the C-14 records underlying the C-14 calibration curve overestimate the atmospheric C-14 concentration by more than 200 parts per thousand. Consequently, C-14 age calibration presently yields too old calendar age estimates by about 1200 yrs for this period. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
C-14 calibration, Be-10, Laschamp event, cosmic rays, cosmogenic, radionuclides, chronology
in
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
volume
394
pages
209 - 215
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000335613300021
  • scopus:84897538354
ISSN
1385-013X
DOI
10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.024
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cef58de2-c559-44a7-b202-cdf127bd2668 (old id 4470537)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:01:00
date last changed
2022-03-27 04:00:22
@article{cef58de2-c559-44a7-b202-cdf127bd2668,
  abstract     = {{The C-14 dating method is the cornerstone for inferring age estimates for natural archives covering the last 50 000 yrs. However, C-14 age calibration for the last ice age relies mostly on records that only indirectly reflect the atmospheric C-14 concentrations. In consequence, calendar age estimates are significantly more uncertain for the period of the last ice age compared to the past 14000 yrs where tree-ring based calibration records exist. Here we connect a C-14 tree-ring chronology from Kauri trees in New Zealand to ice core Be-10 records via the common signal in the galactic cosmic ray flux around the period of the Laschamp geomagnetic field minimum (ca. 41 000 yrs BP). Synchronous changes of modelled C-14 and C-14 inferred from U/Th-dated speleothems support the ice core chronology independently and suggest that the published ice core time scale errors are rather conservative for this period. Our analysis puts C-14 age determinations directly into the context of ice core climate records and it shows that the C-14 records underlying the C-14 calibration curve overestimate the atmospheric C-14 concentration by more than 200 parts per thousand. Consequently, C-14 age calibration presently yields too old calendar age estimates by about 1200 yrs for this period. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Muscheler, Raimund and Adolphi, Florian and Svensson, Anders}},
  issn         = {{1385-013X}},
  keywords     = {{C-14 calibration; Be-10; Laschamp event; cosmic rays; cosmogenic; radionuclides; chronology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{209--215}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Earth and Planetary Science Letters}},
  title        = {{Challenges in C-14 dating towards the limit of the method inferred from anchoring a floating tree ring radiocarbon chronology to ice core records around the Laschamp geomagnetic field minimum}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.024}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.epsl.2014.03.024}},
  volume       = {{394}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}