Radiocarbon Dating in Estuarine Environments

  • Jesper Olsen
  • Philippa Ascough
  • Bryan C. Lougheed
  • Peter Rasmussen
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research book series (DPER, volume 20)

Abstract

Radiocarbon (14C) is a radioactive cosmogenic isotope continuously produced in the upper atmosphere where it rapidly oxidises to 14CO2. As 14CO2, 14C enters the global carbon cycle and is incorporated into living organisms which can be radiocarbon dated following death. Radiocarbon is among the most common radiometric methods used to provide age estimates some 40–50,000 years back in time. Here, a review of the radiocarbon method covering commonly encountered problems in estuarine environments is given. Emphasis will be on methodological procedures concerning how to estimate the 14C reservoir age in these environments, including how reliably error estimates can be calculated. Subsequently, three case studies are presented, providing a short overview of investigations of 14C reservoir age variability in estuarine environments.

Keywords

Radiocarbon Carbon-14 Reservoir age Error 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

B.C. Lougheed’s Baltic Sea research was partly funded by BONUS INFLOW, part of the European Community’s seventh framework programme (FP/2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 217246 made with BONUS, the joint Baltic Sea research and development programme. The North Sea case study was funded via NERC (NE/F002211/1) and Historic Scotland.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jesper Olsen
    • 1
  • Philippa Ascough
    • 2
  • Bryan C. Lougheed
    • 3
    • 4
  • Peter Rasmussen
    • 5
  1. 1.Department of Physics and AstronomyAMS 14C Dating Centre, Aarhus UniversityAarhusDenmark
  2. 2.Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology ParkEast KilbrideUK
  3. 3.Department of Earth SciencesVrije UniversiteitAmsterdamThe Netherlands
  4. 4.Department of Earth SciencesUppsala UniversityUppsalaSweden
  5. 5.The National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS)CopenhagenDenmark

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