Methods and codes for reservoir–atmosphere C-14 age offset calculations
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7508As published
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2015.05.023Keyword
Reservoir age; Reservoir effect; Dead carbon fraction; Radiocarbon modelling; Calibration curve; Uncalibration processAbstract
Reservoir age 14C offsets are invaluable tracers for past changes in carbon cycle and oceanic circulation. Reconstruction of reservoir age offsets with time is also required for calibration purposes (reconstruction of atmospheric calibration curve, calibration of non-atmospheric radiocarbon ages). Thus, properly propagating the various uncertainties linked to reservoir age offset is important for proper interpretation. However, approaches for reservoir age offset calculation – especially when considering pairs of reservoir-derived 14C and calendar ages – are usually not detailed and inadequate for proper propagation of uncertainties. Here, the various ways to properly calculate reservoir age offsets are described with an emphasis on a new approach when considering pairs of 14C and calendar ages. This approach maps the calendar age distribution onto the 14C time scale prior to reservoir age offset calculation – the “uncalibration-convolution process”. R codes computing reservoir age offsets based on available data are presented. Finally, a case study focusing on the reconstruction of the speleothem-atmosphere 14C age offsets of speleothem 14C data used in the latest release of the atmospheric calibration curve is discussed.
Description
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Quaternary Geochronology 29 (2015): 97-103, doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2015.05.023.
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Suggested Citation
Preprint: Soulet, Guillaume, "Methods and codes for reservoir–atmosphere C-14 age offset calculations", 2015-02, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2015.05.023, https://hdl.handle.net/1912/7508Related items
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