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Radiocarbon calibration uncertainties during the last deglaciation : Insights from new floating tree-ring chronologies

Adolphi, Florian LU ; Muscheler, Raimund LU orcid ; Friedrich, Michael ; Güttler, Dominik ; Wacker, Lukas ; Talamo, Sahra and Kromer, Bernd (2017) In Quaternary Science Reviews 170. p.98-108
Abstract

Radiocarbon dating is the most commonly used chronological tool in archaeological and environmental sciences dealing with the past 50,000 years, making the radiocarbon calibration curve one of the most important records in paleosciences. For the past 12,560 years, the radiocarbon calibration curve is constrained by high quality tree-ring data. Prior to this, however, its uncertainties increase rapidly due to the absence of suitable tree-ring 14C data. Here, we present new high-resolution 14C measurements from 3 floating tree-ring chronologies from the last deglaciation. By using combined information from the current radiocarbon calibration curve and ice core 10Be records, we are able to absolutely date... (More)

Radiocarbon dating is the most commonly used chronological tool in archaeological and environmental sciences dealing with the past 50,000 years, making the radiocarbon calibration curve one of the most important records in paleosciences. For the past 12,560 years, the radiocarbon calibration curve is constrained by high quality tree-ring data. Prior to this, however, its uncertainties increase rapidly due to the absence of suitable tree-ring 14C data. Here, we present new high-resolution 14C measurements from 3 floating tree-ring chronologies from the last deglaciation. By using combined information from the current radiocarbon calibration curve and ice core 10Be records, we are able to absolutely date these chronologies at high confidence. We show that our data imply large 14C-age variations during the Bølling chronozone (Greenland Interstadial 1e) – a period that is currently characterized by a long 14C-age plateau in the most recent IntCal13 calibration record. We demonstrate that this lack of structure in IntCal13 may currently lead to erroneous calibrated ages by up to 500 years.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cosmogenic isotopes, Deglaciation, Ice cores, IntCal, Radiocarbon dating, Tree-rings
in
Quaternary Science Reviews
volume
170
pages
11 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85021629612
  • wos:000407524000008
ISSN
0277-3791
DOI
10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.06.026
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
74f068fa-017e-403f-85d8-b7d190975c54
date added to LUP
2017-07-18 13:41:09
date last changed
2024-04-14 14:23:37
@article{74f068fa-017e-403f-85d8-b7d190975c54,
  abstract     = {{<p>Radiocarbon dating is the most commonly used chronological tool in archaeological and environmental sciences dealing with the past 50,000 years, making the radiocarbon calibration curve one of the most important records in paleosciences. For the past 12,560 years, the radiocarbon calibration curve is constrained by high quality tree-ring data. Prior to this, however, its uncertainties increase rapidly due to the absence of suitable tree-ring <sup>14</sup>C data. Here, we present new high-resolution <sup>14</sup>C measurements from 3 floating tree-ring chronologies from the last deglaciation. By using combined information from the current radiocarbon calibration curve and ice core <sup>10</sup>Be records, we are able to absolutely date these chronologies at high confidence. We show that our data imply large <sup>14</sup>C-age variations during the Bølling chronozone (Greenland Interstadial 1e) – a period that is currently characterized by a long <sup>14</sup>C-age plateau in the most recent IntCal13 calibration record. We demonstrate that this lack of structure in IntCal13 may currently lead to erroneous calibrated ages by up to 500 years.</p>}},
  author       = {{Adolphi, Florian and Muscheler, Raimund and Friedrich, Michael and Güttler, Dominik and Wacker, Lukas and Talamo, Sahra and Kromer, Bernd}},
  issn         = {{0277-3791}},
  keywords     = {{Cosmogenic isotopes; Deglaciation; Ice cores; IntCal; Radiocarbon dating; Tree-rings}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  pages        = {{98--108}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Quaternary Science Reviews}},
  title        = {{Radiocarbon calibration uncertainties during the last deglaciation : Insights from new floating tree-ring chronologies}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.06.026}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.06.026}},
  volume       = {{170}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}