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Ice-Core Dating of the Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary Applied to a Calibration of the 14C Time Scale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Claus U Hammer
Affiliation:
Geophysical Isotope Laboratory, University of Copenhagen
Henrik B Clausen
Affiliation:
Geophysical Isotope Laboratory, University of Copenhagen
Henrik Tauber
Affiliation:
National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Abstract

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Seasonal variations in 18O content, in acidity, and in dust content have been used to count annual layers in the Dye 3 deep ice core back to the Late Glacial. In this way the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary has been absolutely dated to 8770 BC with an estimated error limit of ± 150 years. If compared to the conventional 14C age of the same boundary a value of Δ14C = 53 ± 13‰ is obtained. This Δ14C value suggests that 14C levels during the Late Glacial were not substantially higher than during the Postglacial.

Type
II. Natural Variations
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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