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14C Dating of Terrestrial Moss in Tern Lake Deposits, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Chengde Shen
Affiliation:
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Tungsheng Liu
Affiliation:
Geology Institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Weixi Yi
Affiliation:
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Yanmin Sun
Affiliation:
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Mantao Jiang
Affiliation:
Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Jürg Beer
Affiliation:
Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Georges Bonani
Affiliation:
Institut für Mittelenergiephysik, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
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Abstract

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Accurate radiocarbon ages were obtained from terrestrial moss from two drill holes in Tern Lake deposits, Antarctica, using liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The results show that the lake deposits have been accumulating since the end of the last glacial epoch ca. 12,600 cal BP at the rate of 0.13–1.1 mm a-1. We discuss the validity of 14C ages of Antarctic lake deposits, with respect to the latitude effect of 14C productivity, the reservoir effect, the environment effect and the hard-water effect.

Type
Part 2: Applications
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

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