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Atmospheric radiocarbon levels were highly variable during the last deglaciation

Talamo, Sahra ; Friedrich, Michael ; Adolphi, Florian LU ; Kromer, Bernd ; Heaton, Timothy J. ; Cercatillo, Silvia ; Muscheler, Raimund LU orcid ; Paleček, Dragana ; Pelloni, Enrico and Tassoni, Laura , et al. (2023) In Communications Earth and Environment 4(1).
Abstract

Radiocarbon dating provides a key chronological framework for studying past environmental changes. Raw radiocarbon ages measured in samples must be converted to calendar ages using an appropriate calibration curve. Tree-ring datasets provide the gold-standard for developing a precise curve of atmospheric radiocarbon levels over long-time scales. Here, we reconstruct atmospheric radiocarbon levels using a millennium-long section of tree-ring chronology segments that extend into the last glacial period. The samples were obtained from subfossil larch trees recovered from clay quarries at Revine, Italy. Our reconstruction shows higher variations in the amplitude of atmospheric radiocarbon between 18,475 and 17,350 calendar years before the... (More)

Radiocarbon dating provides a key chronological framework for studying past environmental changes. Raw radiocarbon ages measured in samples must be converted to calendar ages using an appropriate calibration curve. Tree-ring datasets provide the gold-standard for developing a precise curve of atmospheric radiocarbon levels over long-time scales. Here, we reconstruct atmospheric radiocarbon levels using a millennium-long section of tree-ring chronology segments that extend into the last glacial period. The samples were obtained from subfossil larch trees recovered from clay quarries at Revine, Italy. Our reconstruction shows higher variations in the amplitude of atmospheric radiocarbon between 18,475 and 17,350 calendar years before the present than that detected in the IntCal20 calibration curve. Comparing the new tree-ring based reconstruction with Beryllium-10 fluxes derived from ice cores, we hypothesise that these variations are driven by solar variability. Our results demonstrate the unique value of sub-decadal radiocarbon sequences derived from glacial tree-ring chronologies.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Communications Earth and Environment
volume
4
issue
1
article number
268
publisher
Springer Nature
external identifiers
  • scopus:85165330066
ISSN
2662-4435
DOI
10.1038/s43247-023-00929-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e6e32de1-5971-45e3-8cb3-58a3baf1aa40
date added to LUP
2023-08-29 14:52:10
date last changed
2023-08-29 14:52:10
@article{e6e32de1-5971-45e3-8cb3-58a3baf1aa40,
  abstract     = {{<p>Radiocarbon dating provides a key chronological framework for studying past environmental changes. Raw radiocarbon ages measured in samples must be converted to calendar ages using an appropriate calibration curve. Tree-ring datasets provide the gold-standard for developing a precise curve of atmospheric radiocarbon levels over long-time scales. Here, we reconstruct atmospheric radiocarbon levels using a millennium-long section of tree-ring chronology segments that extend into the last glacial period. The samples were obtained from subfossil larch trees recovered from clay quarries at Revine, Italy. Our reconstruction shows higher variations in the amplitude of atmospheric radiocarbon between 18,475 and 17,350 calendar years before the present than that detected in the IntCal20 calibration curve. Comparing the new tree-ring based reconstruction with Beryllium-10 fluxes derived from ice cores, we hypothesise that these variations are driven by solar variability. Our results demonstrate the unique value of sub-decadal radiocarbon sequences derived from glacial tree-ring chronologies.</p>}},
  author       = {{Talamo, Sahra and Friedrich, Michael and Adolphi, Florian and Kromer, Bernd and Heaton, Timothy J. and Cercatillo, Silvia and Muscheler, Raimund and Paleček, Dragana and Pelloni, Enrico and Tassoni, Laura and Toniello, Vladimiro and Wacker, Lukas}},
  issn         = {{2662-4435}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Springer Nature}},
  series       = {{Communications Earth and Environment}},
  title        = {{Atmospheric radiocarbon levels were highly variable during the last deglaciation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00929-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s43247-023-00929-9}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}