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Seasonal variations in the 14C Content of Tree Rings: Influences on Radiocarbon Calibration and Single-Year Curve Construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2018

Liam McDonald Open the ORCID record for Liam McDonald [Opens in a new window] ,
David Chivall ,
Daniel Miles  and
Christopher Bronk Ramsey
Liam McDonald
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
David Chivall
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Daniel Miles
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
Christopher Bronk Ramsey*
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: christopher.ramsey@rlaha.ox.ac.uk.
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Abstract

To examine the implications of seasonality for the construction of a single-year calibration curve we obtained separate dates on earlywood and latewood fractions of tree rings originating from England and dendrochronologically dated between AD 1352 and AD 1442. These demonstrated that an average difference of 26±15 yr exists between earlywood and latewood and that this difference can be as high as 33±19 yr during periods of high radiocarbon (14C) production. It is argued that this difference is due to both changes in atmospheric 14C and the incorporation of stored carbohydrates into earlywood. Based on this, it was possible to separate an atmospheric and physiological contribution to this difference. Our modeling indicates that storage can produce a difference of up to 10 years between earlywood and latewood. This suggests that full-year tree rings from deciduous trees may be less appropriate for the construction of a single-year calibration curve and that specific atmospheric events can be more easily detected by measuring only latewood.

Keywords

atmospheric 14Ccarbon storagedendrochronologyseasonalitysingle-year calibration using dendrochronology
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 185 - 194
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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