Evaluation of wood pretreatments on oak and cedar

In a separate study, we conducted a series of high-precision radiocarbon measurements using wood from Britain and New Zealand to investigate interhemispheric offsets and possible temporal variations. To minimize variability associated with different species, the pretreatment of the oak (Quercus patraea) and cedar (Librocedrus bidwilli) was to acellulose for both. This study investigates the thoroughness of a range of pretreatment processes by the stable isotope analysis of the products

SHCal04 Southern Hemisphere Calibration, 0–11.0 cal kyr BP

Recent measurements on dendrochronologically-dated wood from the Southern Hemisphere have shown that there are differences between the structural form of the radiocarbon calibration curves from each hemisphere. Thus, it is desirable, when possible, to use calibration data obtained from secure dendrochronologically-dated wood from the corresponding hemisphere. In this paper, we outline the recent work and point the reader to the internationally recommended data set that should be used for future calibration of Southern Hemisphere ¹⁴C dates

Variations of radiocarbon in tree rings: southern hemisphere offset preliminary results

The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland and University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand radiocarbon laboratories have undertaken a series of high-precision measurements on decadal samples of dendrochronologically dated oak (Quercus patrea) and cedar (Libocedrus bidwillii) from Great Britain and New Zealand, respectively. The results show a real atmospheric offset of 3.4 ± 0.6% (27.2 ± 4.7 ¹⁴C yr) between the two locations for the interval AD 1725 to AD 1885, with the Southern Hemisphere being depleted in ¹⁴C. This result is less than the value currently used to correct Southern Hemisphere calibrations, possibly indicating a gradient in Δ¹⁴C within the Southern Hemisphere

A Note on Calibration Curves

From the 15th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, August 15-19, 1994.This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries.The Radiocarbon archives are made available by Radiocarbon and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact [email protected] for further information.Migrated from OJS platform February 202

Location-dependent differences in the C-14 content of wood

The long C-14 chronologies currently used as calibration curves combine results from wood that grew in the western United States, the British Isles and Germany. Although these results show few significant differences in the C-14 content of contemporaneous wood when averaged over the length of the chronology (i.e, the means of overlapping sections of chronology are the same), closer examination shows considerable variability. Separating the sections of chronology according to the provenance of the wood used for calibration reveals patterns that suggest small but finite differences in the C-14 content of wood from different locations. We conclude that there is some evidence that German and American wood give dates older by between 20 and 40 yr from those of Irish oak for some periods. Additionally we suggest that the shift of the Belfast 1986 calibration data by ca. 18yr toward older dates may not be valid and that the resultant offset between the Belfast 1986 and Seattle 1993 data shows a small but real difference in the C-14 content of contemporaneous American, German and Irish wood. Intralaboratory measurements made in Belfast on contemporaneous German and Irish oak, and bristlecone pine and Irish oak, give offsets of 39 and 41 yr, respectively, with the Irish oak dating younger. Previous studies, in which sample pairs of American and English and French wood were processed in the same laboratory, also showed American wood to be slightly depleted in C-14. None of the findings of this study would significantly alter calibrated C-14 dates

Intercomparison of high precision C-14 measurements at the University of Arizona and the Queens University of Belfast radiocarbon laboratories

High-precision measurements were completed concurrently at the University of Arizona and the Queen's University of Belfast on blind samples of Irish oak originally measured for the 1986 radiocarbon calibration curve. Subsequent single-year Sequoindendron results were decadally averaged and compared with published results on decadal Douglas-fir samples. The results of these intercomparisons show that the Arizona high-precision results compare favorably with published values from the University of Washington, but show a systematic offset with published Belfast data