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Testing the Accuracy of 14C Age Data from Pollen Concentrates in the Yangtze Delta, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Chunhai Li ,
Yongxiang Li  and
George S Burr
Chunhai Li
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, China
Yongxiang Li
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
George S Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Laboratory, University of Arizona, Physics Department, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0081, USA
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Abstract

In order to test the accuracy of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of pollen, 8 samples of pollen concentrates and 4 bulk organic samples were collected and analyzed from trench T1041 at the Tianluoshan site, Yuyao city, Zhejiang Province. This site was chosen because a reliable chronology had been previously established there based on radiocarbon dates of plant materials. The pollen concentrate samples were measured using AMS 14C and the 4 bulk organic samples were measured by liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The pollen concentrates and bulk organic samples yield ages that are a few hundred years to thousands of years older than those from plant materials, respectively. Contributions from reworked sediments can explain the older ages for the pollen concentrates and sediment organic dates. This study suggests that caution must be exercised when discussing millennial- or centennial-scale climate events based on chronologies that are controlled by age determinations of pollen concentrates.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , 2014 , pp. 181 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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