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Stepped-Combustion 14C Dating of Sediment: A Comparison with Established Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

J McGeehin*
Affiliation:
US Geological Survey, MS926A, Reston, Virginia, 20192, USA.
G S Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Lab, Box 0081, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA
A J T Jull
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Lab, Box 0081, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA
D Reines
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Lab, Box 0081, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA
J Gosse
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045, USA
P T Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Bentley College, Waltham, Massachusetts, 02154, USA
D Muhs
Affiliation:
US Geological Survey, MS980, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225 USA
J R Southon
Affiliation:
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, 94551, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: mcgeehin@usgs.gov.
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Radiocarbon dating of bulk sediment has long been used as a method of last resort when reliable wood, charcoal, or plant macrofossils are not available for analysis. Accurate dating of sediment is complicated by the presence of multiple organic carbon fractions, each with a potentially different 14C activity. Additionally, the presence of carbon bound by clay minerals can significantly reduce the accuracy of a sediment age determination, with the oldest 14C ages seen in samples with the highest clay content (Scharpenseel and Becker-Heidmann 1992).

Type
I. Becoming Better
Copyright
Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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