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Microchemical and Molecular Dating*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2018

L A Currie
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
T W Stafford
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
A E Sheffield
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
G A Klouda
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
S A Wise
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
R A Fletcher
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
D J Donahue
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
A J T Jull
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
T W Linick
Affiliation:
National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
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Abstract

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The depth and reliability of archaeological and environmental information on ages, sources and pathways of carbon are being greatly enhanced through a new synergism between advances in “micro 14C dating” and advances in micro-organic analytical chemistry and individual particle characterization. Recent activities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly NBS) involving this linkage include dating individual amino acids isolated from bone collagen and the apportionment or tracing of individual carbon compounds derived from anthropogenic sources. Important knowledge has been gained through “direct” (sequential) and “indirect” (parallel) links between microchemistry and 14C measurement. The former is illustrated by 14C measurements on specific amino acids and on the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) class of compounds. Isolation of the respective molecular fractions from far greater quantities of extraneous carbon held the key to valid dating and source apportionment respectively. Parallel data on 14C and molecular patterns promises new knowledge about the identity of sources of environmental carbon at the nanogram level through multivariate techniques such as principal component analysis and multiple linear regression. Examples are given for atmospheric particulate carbon, using PAH molecular patterns and laser microprobe mass spectral patterns.

Type
II. Carbon Cycle in the Environment
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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