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Changes of 14C Concentration in Modern Trees from Upper Silesia Region, Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Andrzej Z Rakowski ,
Sławomira Pawełczyk  and
Anna Pazdur
Andrzej Z Rakowski*
Affiliation:
Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Physics, Radiocarbon Laboratory, ul. Krzywoustego 2,44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Sławomira Pawełczyk
Affiliation:
Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Physics, Radiocarbon Laboratory, ul. Krzywoustego 2,44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Anna Pazdur
Affiliation:
Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Physics, Radiocarbon Laboratory, ul. Krzywoustego 2,44-100 Gliwice, Poland
*
Corresponding author. Email: rakowski@zeus.posl.gliwice.pl.
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Abstract

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Radiocarbon concentration measurements in tree rings from Upper Silesia indicate significantly lower 14C concentration as compared to the concentrations occurring in “clean air” areas. This phenomenon is known as the Suess effect and is caused by contamination with inactive carbon that originates from fossil fuels combustion. This effect is observed in large urban and industrial areas. Samples for the measurements presented in the paper were collected in some of the largest cities in Upper Silesia: Gliwice, Ruda Śląska, and Chorzów. The samples were annual tree rings (Populus nigra, Pinus silvestris) covering years 1965–1992 and the atmospheric CO2 collected weekly between December 1994 and December 1995.

Information

Type
I. Our ‘Dry’ Environment: Above Sea Level
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 43 , Issue 2B: Proceedings of the 17th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 3), Conference Editors: Israel Carmi, Elisabetta Boaretto , 2001 , pp. 679 - 689
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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