Radiocarbon 9/18/12

Lecture outline:
1) radiocarbon dating principles

2) Atmospheric & ocean radiocarbon variability What makes 14C the

“emperor” of isotopes?
3) The Calibration Curve

4) Radiocarbon as biogeochemical tracer

The Shroud of Turin

Radiocarbon (14C) formation and decay
-formed by interaction of cosmic ray spallation products with stable N gas
1
0 n  147 N  146 C  11H

-radiocarbon subsequently decays by β- decay back to 14N with a half-life of 5730y

14
6C  147 N      Q

Radiocarbon dating was first explored by W.R. Libby (1946), who later won the Nobel Prize.
Most published dates still use the “Libby” half-life of 5568y to enable comparison of 14C dates.

The activity of radiocarbon in the atmosphere represents a balance of its production, its decay,
and its uptake by the biosphere, weathering, etc.

Which of these three

things might change
through time,
and why?
Radiocarbon Dating
1) As plants uptake C through photosynthesis, they take on the 14C activity of the atmosphere.
2) Anything that derives from this C will also have atmospheric 14C activity (including you and I).
3) If something stops actively exchanging C (it dies, is buried, etc), that 14C begins to decay.

A  A0e  t
where present-day, pre-bomb,
14C activity = 13.56dpm/g C

So all you need to know to calculate

an age is A0, which to first order
is 13.56dpm/g, BUT

*small variations (several percent)

in atmospheric 14C in the past
lead to dating errors of up to 20%!

Sources of variability:
1) geomagnetic field strength
2) solar activity
3) carbon cycle changes
 Radiocarbon Measurements and Reporting
1) Radiocarbon dates are determined by measuring the ratio of 14C to 12C in a sample,
relative to a standard, usually in an accelerator mass spectrometer.

standard = oxalic acid that represents activity of 1890 wood

14C ages are reported as “14C years BP”, where BP is 1950

2) Fact: Most living things do not uptake C in atmospheric ratios – i.e. they fractionate carbon,
(lighter 12C preferentially used), must correct for this fractionation because it affects the 14C/12C ratio
Researchers collect the 13C/12C ratio, use it to
correct for “missing” 14C
  13C / 12C    13C / 12C  
 C
13 spl std
 1 *1000
So the less 13C a sample has, the less 14C it has,


 13
C / C
12
std


and so the uncorrected 14C age will be _______
than the calendar age?  2(25   13CPDB ) 
Acorr  Ameas 1   dpm / g
Samples are “normalized” to a 13CPDB value of -25‰  1000 

3) The final step is to obtain a “calibrated 14C age” using the atmospheric radiocarbon content
when the sample grew.
Atmospheric radiocarbon variability through time
Convention:
The atmospheric   14C / 12C  
D 14C   14 12  1 *1000
radiocarbon spl

 C / C 
anomaly with
respect to a standard 
is defined as D14C  std 
-solar activity changes

Note:
the D14C is 0
during 1890,
b/c that’s
the activity of the
oxalic acid standard

-addition of isotopically light

fossil fuel C to atmosphere

time

But how did somebody

construct this curve?
Reconstructing atmospheric radiocarbon variability through time

What you need:

absolute age & radiocarbon age

A  A0e  t tree cut in 1999A.D.

What you get:

history of 14Catmos

1821A.D. by ring-counting

Most of the Holocene 14Catmos

variability derives from changes
in the geomagnetic field
 Over longer timescales, what’s controlling atmospheric 14C?

Earth’s Carbon Reservoirs 14C content

(in Gigatons C):
atmosphere 748 highest (site of production)
terrestrial 2,000 high (some old organic matter)
oceanic 38,000 high (surface) and low (deep)
geologic 4,000 zero (isolated from atmos. for long time)

Climate changes perturb the E’s carbon

cycle (and therefore 14Catmos) by:

-changing the amount of C stored on land

(ex ice sheets of LGM)

-changing the ability of the deep

ocean to sequester old carbon from
atmosphere (ex increased stratification)
The ocean “conveyor belt” and radiocarbon
Seawater radiocarbon measurements
set a time-scale for whole-ocean
mixing (~1500y), and identified
the locations where deep-mixing occur

The 14C ages of waters along a N-S the youngest

transect in the Atlantic. waters are
at the surface
note non-zero age at surface
and in the deep
North Atlantic

the “bomb”
spike

the oldest
waters are
in the mid-depth
pacifc (age~1500y)

14C measurements from vertical

profiles taken in world’s oceans
4) If dating a marine sample, you will need to correct its calibrated 14C age with a reservoir age,
which ranges from <100yrs in the stagnant subtropical gyres to >1000yrs in the mid-depth Pacific.
Paleo-ventilation ages from 14C in marine carbonates
1. compare 14C ages
of benthic and planktonic 2. compare U-series and 14C ages
forams in same core horizon for deep-sea corals

100y of growth (study modern corals)

Atlantic

Pacific,

diff. in 14C ages=670y!

LGM=large symbols
GEOSECS=small dots

Adkins et al., 1998

Broecker et al., 2004
 The Radiocarbon Calibration Curve (atmospheric 14C history)
Principle: compare radiocarbon dates with independent dates
examples of independent dating: tree-ring counting, coral U-Th dates, varve counting,
correlation of climate signals in varves with ice core

Observation:
data from: radiocarbon dates
corals (bright red) are consistently
lake varves (green)
marine varves (blue)
younger than calendar
speleothems (orange) ages
tree rings (black)

So was atmospheric
14C larger or

smaller at 20k (LGM)

time than today?

Hughen et al., 2004

 But what caused these large changes in atmospheric 14C?
Use a carbon cycle model that includes radiocarbon, play with different scenarios,
check fit with reality.

red=observed 14C
geomagnetic black=modelled 14C geomagnetic
field from field from
paleomag paleomag
studies + magnetic
only anomaly
at 44k

geomagnetic
geomagnetic field +
field + mag. anomaly
mag. anomaly + reduced
+ reduced sedimentation
sedimentation during glacial
during glacial + change
in overturning
circulation
stop transferring
radiocarbon
into deep ocean Beck et al., 2001
So what is the average geochemist to do?
Trust the experts!
INTCAL09 – established one curve to use for 14C calibration:
Reimer PJ, Baillie MGL, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Blackwell PG,
Bronk Ramsey C, Buck CE, Burr GS, Edwards RL, Friedrich M,
Grootes PM, Guilderson TP, Hajdas I, Heaton TJ, Hogg AG, Hughen KA,
Kaiser KF, Kromer B, McCormac FG, Manning SW, Reimer RW,
Richards DA, Southon JR, Talamo S, Turney CSM, van der Plicht J,
Weyhenmeyer CE. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age
calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51(4):1111–50.

Use their calibration program (current version = CALIB 6.0):

http://radiocarbon.pa.qub.ac.uk/calib
M. Stuiver, P.J. Reimer, and R. Reimer

Also, avoid contamination with post-bomb/tracer carbon at all costs!

Ex: diagenesis may replace original C with post-bomb (modern) C
or
contamination with tracer (super-enriched) 14C used by biologists (done in IBB)
The timing and structure of the “bomb” spike
Bomb-produced radionuclides (in 1018 Bq (1Bq=1dps)

*
*

*
The radiocarbon bomb spike – atmosphere vs. other reservoirs

+1000‰ = 14C doubles

Trumbore, 2000
Source of bomb 14C: stratosphere, Northern Hemisphere

Incorporation of bomb 14C into various C reservoirs depends on the residence time
of C in that reservoir
Ex: short residence time = quick, high-amplitude response
Why?
long residence time = delayed, low-amplitude response
Seawater radiocarbon observations
1. GEOSECS – Geochemical Ocean
Section Study

1972-1978
transects through all major oceans

2. WOCE – World Ocean Circulation

Experiment

1990-2002
extensive coverage of the ocean
Ocean models of bomb 14C

Can ocean general circulation models

accurately capture the spatial and temporal
evolution of the bomb radiocarbon spike?

*Our understanding of ocean mixing (esp.

vertical mixing) is extremely limited, 14C can
help.

Rodgers et al., 1999

Atmosphere-Ocean-Biosphere models of bomb 14C evolution

Atmosphere The contributions of ocean, terrestrial

Terrestrial biosphere
w/ three different
carbon residence times
biosphere, fossil fuel combustion and bomb
testing to atmospheric D14C was
investigated with an Atmospheric General
Circulation Model (GCM) coupled to a
carbon cycle model.
Why does the terrestrial biosphere
lag the atmosphere?

The detrended atmos D14C,

showing large seasonal cycle

Randerson et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 2002

Why do Southern and Northern

Hemisphere D14C values differ in 1970?
Map of mean annual Δ14C relative to South Pole. Randerson et al., 2002

Why does the Northern Hemisphere have lower Δ14C?

 Model D14C-coral D14C comparisons

French Frigate Fiji

Shoals

Rodgers et al., 1999

Why are some records “smoother”

than others (ie Galapagos vs. Fiji)?
Nauru
Galapagos
Radiocarbon in the Biosphere

Approach:
Use bomb 14C as a tracer of
carbon cycling in complex
environments.
Or use natural level 14C to
date carbon in various pools.

Gaudinski et al., 2000

Radiocarbon measurements of carbon cycling in the ocean

dissolved
inorganic carbon
contains bomb
14C at surface,
dissolved
organic carbon not at deep
old – highly
refractory
sinking particulate
organic matter
contains bomb
carbon

Figure 1. Radiocarbon in different reservoirs of carbon at

Station M in the North Eastern Pacific Ocean. Red circles
represent values for HMW DOM (Aluwihare, 1999); blue bars at
0 m and 1500 m represent the range of values observed for
individual monosaccharides isolated from HMW sugars
(Aluwihare, 1999). DIC, total DOC, and POC data are from
Druffel et al., 1996 and Bauer et al., 1998.