Radiocarbon dating of deep-sea corals

• Published in: Radiocarbon
• Main Authors: Adkins, Jess F., Griffin, Sheila, Kashgarian, Michaele, Cheng, Hai, Druffel, E. R. M., Boyle, E. A., Edwards, R. Lawrence, Shen, Chuan-Chou
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Arizona 2002
• Subjects: leaching; modern analogs; deep sea environment; ocean circulation; Desmophyllum cristagalli; Th U; Anthozoa; Coelenterata; Atlantic Ocean; North Atlantic; marine environment; paleoclimatology; Cenozoic; Quaternary; methods; C14; carbon; isotopes; radioactive isotopes; Invertebrata; absolute age
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200031921

Deep-sea corals are a promising new archive of paleoclimate. Coupled radiocarbon and U-series dates allow ^(14)C to be used as a tracer of ocean circulation rate in the same manner as it is used in the modern ocean. Diagnetic 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 CO_2. A survey of modern samples from the full Δ^(14)C gradient in the deep ocean demonstrates that the coralline CaCO_3 records the radiocarbon value of the dissolved inorganic carbon. © 2002 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Published - Adkins_RadioCarbon2002p567.pdf