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Radiocarbon Dating of Individual Fatty Acids as a Tool for Refining Antarctic Margin Sediment Chronologies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Naohiko Ohkouchi ,
Timothy I Eglinton  and
John M Hayes
Naohiko Ohkouchi*
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.
Timothy I Eglinton*
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.
John M Hayes
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Geology and Physics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA. Email: jhayes@whoi.edu.
*
Corresponding author. Email: nohkouchi@jamstec.go.jp.
Email: teglinton@whoi.edu.
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Abstract

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We have measured the radiocarbon contents of individual, solvent-extractable, short-chain (C14, C16, and C18) fatty acids isolated from Ross Sea surface sediments. The corresponding 14C ages are equivalent to that of the post-bomb dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) reservoir. Moreover, molecular 14C variations in surficial (upper 15 cm) sediments indicate that these compounds may prove useful for reconstructing chronologies of Antarctic margin sediments containing uncertain (and potentially variable) quantities of relict organic carbon. A preliminary molecular 14C chronology suggests that the accumulation rate of relict organic matter has not changed during the last 500 14C yr. The focus of this study is to determine the validity of compound-specific 14C analysis as a technique for reconstructing chronologies of Antarctic margin sediments.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , 2003 , pp. 17 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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