Radiocarbon dating of deep-sea corals.

• Main Authors: Adkins, Jess F, Griffin, Shelia, Kashgarian, Michaele, Cheng, Hai, Druffel, E M, Boyle, E A, Edwards, R Lawrence, Shen, Chuan Chou
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Radiocarbon 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;C 14;carbon;isotopes;radioactive isotopes;Invertebrata;absolute age; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/view/4127

Deep-sea corals are a promising new archive of paleoclimate. Coupled radiocarbon and U-series dates allow (super 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 (sub 2) . A survey of modern samples from the full Delta (super 14) C gradient in the deep ocean demonstrates that the coralline CaCO (sub 3) records the radiocarbon value of the dissolved inorganic carbon.