Treatment of small samples of particulate organic carbon (POC) for radiocarbon dating of ice

Autor(en)

Roswitha Drosg, Walter Kutschera, Kathrin Scholz, Peter Steier, Dietmar Wagenbach, Eva Maria Wild

Abstrakt

A filtration method for radiocarbon determination on particulate organic carbon (POC) in glacier ice is explored at VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator). Previous work on true samples has shown that laboratory contamination is the limiting factor. By systematic investigations on the origin of carbon contamination, we were able to reduce the background significantly. In two first measurements using artificially produced clean ice a blank level as low as 1.3 mu gC/kg ice could be achieved. These results were obtained by a simplified combustion scheme using valve-sealed vials. The combustion yield for organic materials was found to be 80% with a very low background typically below 1 mu gC. Outliers turned out to be the main obstacle when dealing with such minute carbon amounts.

Organisation(en)

Isotopenphysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Heidelberg

Journal

Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B. Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms

Band

259

Seiten

340-344

Anzahl der Seiten

5

ISSN

0168-583X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2007.02.094

Publikationsdatum

2007

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105204 Klimatologie, 103005 Atomphysik

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/ac909a88-4f1e-4681-b6dd-fa911123f930