• Flores, Carola
• Albano, Paolo G.
• Hua, Quan
• Frazer, Thomas K.
• Kowalewski, Michal
• Ritter, Matias Do Nascimento
• Rivadeneira, Marcelo M.
• Parker, Wesley G.
• Retelle, Michael
• Martinelli, Julieta C.
• Oakley, David
• Kosnik, Matthew
• Bright, Jordon
• Zuschin, Martin
• Kaufman, Darrell S.
• Ebert, Chris
• Whitacre, Katherine
• Scarponi, Daniele
• Southon, John R.
• Yanes, Yurena

Abstract

<p>The direct carbonate procedure for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS ¹⁴C) dating of submilligram samples of biogenic carbonate without graphitization is becoming widely used in a variety of studies. We compare the results of 153 paired direct carbonate and standard graphite ¹⁴C determinations on single specimens of an assortment of biogenic carbonates. A reduced major axis regression shows a strong relationship between direct carbonate and graphite percent Modern Carbon (pMC) values (m = 0.996; 95% CI [0.991-1.001]). An analysis of differences and a 95% confidence interval on pMC values reveals that there is no significant difference between direct carbonate and graphite pMC values for 76% of analyzed specimens, although variation in direct carbonate pMC is underestimated. The difference between the two methods is typically within 2 pMC, with 61% of direct carbonate pMC measurements being higher than their paired graphite counterpart. Of the 36 specimens that did yield significant differences, all but three missed the 95% significance threshold by 1.2 pMC or less. These results show that direct carbonate ¹⁴C dating of biogenic carbonates is a cost-effective and efficient complement to standard graphite ¹⁴C dating. </p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• Carbon
• laser emission spectroscopy
• additive manufacturing
• spectrometry
• chemical ionisation
• Accelerator mass spectrometry