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Radiocarbon Dating of Deep-Sea Corals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Jess F Adkins ,
Shelia Griffin ,
Michaele Kashgarian ,
Hai Cheng ,
E R M Druffel ,
E A Boyle ,
R Lawrence Edwards  and
Chuan-Chou Shen
Jess F Adkins
Affiliation:
MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. Now at California Institute of Technology, MS 100-23, 1200 E California Blvd., Pasadena, California 91125 USA. Email: jess@gps.caltech.edu.
Shelia Griffin
Affiliation:
University of California at Irvine, Department of Earth System Science, Irvine, California 92697-3100 USA
Michaele Kashgarian
Affiliation:
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry L-397, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, PO Box 808, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550 USA
Hai Cheng
Affiliation:
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
E R M Druffel
Affiliation:
University of California at Irvine, Department of Earth System Science, Irvine, California 92697-3100 USA
E A Boyle
Affiliation:
Dept. of Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences, MIT, E34-200, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
R Lawrence Edwards
Affiliation:
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
Chuan-Chou Shen
Affiliation:
Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 USA
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Abstract

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Deep-sea corals are a promising new archive of paleoclimate. Coupled radiocarbon and U-series dates allow 14C to be used as a tracer of ocean circulation rate in the same manner as it is used in the modern ocean. Diagenetic alteration of coral skeletons on the seafloor requires a thorough cleaning of contaminating phases of carbon. In addition, 10% of the coral must be chemically leached prior to dissolution to remove adsorbed modern CO2. A survey of modern samples from the full δ14C gradient in the deep ocean demonstrates that the coralline CaCO3 records the radiocarbon value of the dissolved inorganic carbon.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , 2002 , pp. 567 - 580
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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