A radiocarbon spike at 14 300 cal yr BP in subfossil trees provides the impulse response function of the global carbon cycle during the Late Glacial

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences
• Main Authors: Bard, Edouard, Miramont, Cécile, Capano, Manuela, Guibal, Frédéric, Marschal, Christian, Rostek, Frauke, Tuna, Thibaut, Fagault, Yoann, Heaton, Timothy
• Other Authors: Collège de France - Chaire Evolution du climat et de l'océan, Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), University of Sheffield Sheffield
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Greenland
• Online Access: https://amu.hal.science/hal-04523182; https://amu.hal.science/hal-04523182/document; https://amu.hal.science/hal-04523182/file/bard-et-al-2023-a-radiocarbon-spike-at-14-300-cal-yr-bp-in-subfossil-trees-provides-the-impulse-response-function-of.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2022.0206

International audience We present new 14 C results measured on subfossil Scots Pines recovered in the eroded banks of the Drouzet watercourse in the Southern French Alps. About 400 new 14 C ages have been analysed on 15 trees sampled at annual resolution. The resulting Δ 14 C record exhibits an abrupt spike occurring in a single year at 14 300–14 299 cal yr BP and a century-long event between 14 and 13.9 cal kyr BP. In order to identify the causes of these events, we compare the Drouzet Δ 14 C record with simulations of Δ 14 C based on the 10 Be record in Greenland ice used as an input of a carbon cycle model. The correspondence with 10 Be anomalies allows us to propose the 14.3 cal kyr BP event as a solar energetic particle event. By contrast, the 14 cal kyr BP event lasted about a century and is most probably a common Maunder-type solar minimum linked to the modulation of galactic cosmic particles by the heliomagnetic field. We also discuss and speculate about the synchroneity and the possible causes of the 14 cal kyr BP event with the brief cold phase called Older Dryas, which separates the Bølling and Allerød millennium-long warm phases of the Late Glacial period. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Radiocarbon in the Anthropocene'.