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Comparison of Radiocarbon and Uranium-Series Dating Methods as Applied to Marine Apatite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William C. Burnett
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 USA
Kee Hyun Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32306 USA

Abstract

A comparison of uranium-series geochronology and radiocarbon dating, the first systematic test of its kind applied to authigenic marine apatite, has been made for nine seafloor phosphate nodules sampled from the Peruvian and Chilean shelves. Radiocarbon ages agree well with the 230Th ages for all six samples with 230Th ages younger than the practical dating limit of the 14C technique for marine samples. Two of three “old” samples contain no significant 14C activities, as expected. However, one sample with a high concentration of phosphate pellets contains more than 30% of the modern 14C activity. The discrepancy between the 14C and U-series age for this sample is thought to be due to post-depositional adsorption of the particle-reactive elements thorium and protactinium onto pellet surfaces.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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