High-precision radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements of a new high-altitude stone-pine tree-ring chronology from the European Alps were performed for a 500-yr stretch in the second half of the 4th millennium BC. A 14C calibration curve with a typical 1-σ uncertainty of about 20 14C yr was achieved. Although the general agreement of our data set with INTCAL98 is very good (confirming once more that INTCAL98 is also proper for calibration of samples of extraordinary sites), we found small deviations of 17 ± 5 14C yr, indicating possible seasonal effects of the delayed growing season at high altitude.

We investigated Csípo-halom, one of the kurgans that served as a burial place in the Hortobágy area of the Hungarian Great Plain. For pedological description and other studies of the protected mound and its surroundings, only a few monitoring drillings were permitted to get soil samples. On the basis of morphological and visual studies, the structure and layers of the mound were reconstructed. The Laboratory of Environmental Studies of the Institute of Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (INR/HAS) performed radiocarbon measurements of soil samples, applying a bulk combustion pretreatment method. The measured 14C ages of soil samples from reference points, such as the top layer of the mound, the center of mound body, the base layer of the mound, the near surroundings, and the distant surroundings, are in good agreement with the preliminary archaeological concept for this field and give substantial information about the rate of soil generation processes in this area.

A Bayesian multiple-frequency model has been developed for spectral analysis of data with unknown correlated noise. A description of the model is given and the method is applied to decadal atmospheric INTCAL98 Δ14C data. The noise of the INTCAL98 data is found to be red, and there seems to be no support for continuous harmonic frequencies in the data.

This study estimates the maximum and minimum degrees of autocompaction for radiocarbon-dated Holocene mangrove sediments in Singapore, in order to correct apparent sediment accretion rates for the effects of sediment compression due to autocompaction. Relationships developed for a suite of modern (surface) sediment samples between bulk density, particle-size distribution, and organic matter content were used to estimate the initial (uncompacted) bulk density of buried and variably compressed Holocene sediments, based on the grain-size distribution and organic matter content of the sediment. The difference between measured (compacted) and initial (uncompacted) bulk density of each buried sediment interval can be interpreted as the amount of length shortening experienced by each interval since burial. This allows the elevation of samples selected for 14C dating to be corrected for the effects of autocompaction of the underlying sediment sequence, so that accurate estimates of vertical sediment accretion rates can be calculated.

The 3 Holocene mangrove sequences analyzed and dated for this study ranged in age from 2000 to 8500 cal BP. The effects of autocompaction are significant, even in comparatively thin sequences, with subsidence of up to 56 cm calculated for carbon-dated samples presently 2 m above incompressible basement. The vertical sediment accretion rates for these mangrove sequences ranged from 0.99 to 6.84 mm/yr and carbon sequestration rates ranged from 0.9 to 1.7 t/ha/yr, all within the range observed for comparable Holocene and modern mangrove sediments elsewhere.

Radiocarbon age determinations and stratigraphy suggest that the deposits in Black Creek Swamp on Kangaroo Island record 3 phases of deposition and associated soil development which spanned at least the last 20,000 yr. Four new 14C age determinations on bulk soil organic matter and their stratigraphic context are presented in this paper. Three of these age determinations (FP6: 15,687 ± 110 BP [WK11487]; FP7: 16,326 ± 385 BP [WK11488]; and FP8: 17,618 ± 447 BP [WK11489]), are from the organic-rich fossil layer located 45–75 cm below the current floodplain surface. The fourth, a much younger date, FP5: 5589 ± 259 BP (WK11486), was obtained from the base of the overlying modern soil. The dates for the fossil layer increase systematically with depth and correlate well with 5 previous 14C dates (Hope et al., unpublished), ranging between 15,040 ± 120 BP and 19,000 ± 310 BP. This suggests that the data set represents a possible minimum age of the bulk organic matter, and considering the high organic matter contents of approximately 8%, has implications for the age of the megafauna buried in this layer. The overlying modern soil, with its much younger date, contains lower levels of organic matter (3–7%) and gastropods not seen in the fossil layer. This suggests a substantial change in environmental conditions probably due to an alteration in the floodplain drainage conditions. This chronological and sedimentalogical discontinuity indicates that 2 distinct depositional regimes existed and were separated by up to 10,000 14C yr. A calcareous, sandy silt deposit underlying the fossil layer is a calcarenite deposit with low total organic content and is considered the base of the section; it suggests a third separate depositional episode. As such, the Black Creek Swamp in the southwest corner of Kangaroo Island formed intermittently over at least the last 20,000 yr during 3 distinct depositional phases, one of which was the formation of the fossil-laden, organic-rich floodplain surface, which has a possible minimum age of approximately 15,000 to 19,000 BP.

Least-squares fitted smooth curves to radiocarbon versus tree-ring calibration data for the period AD 1140 to 1950 are compared with climatic warming and cooling of the North Atlantic (Little Ice Age), and with recorded sunspot numbers over the period AD 1670 to 1950.

Calibration curves from different parts of the globe are not identical, and appear to be determined by a combination of variable solar activity and variable oceanic upwelling of 14C-depleted water, with the variable upwelling itself partly determined by solar activity.

The influence of the calibration curve on the statistical inference of time intervals was investigated. For this purpose, the calculation of the summed probability density function was used. Computer simulations were done for batches of 11 samples, each time uniformly covering 200-yr time intervals. The results show that the calibration curve causes the summed probability density function of a group to cover a wider interval than the real-time interval of the phenomenon. Moreover, the estimated time interval may be often shifted in relation to the real-time interval.

Concentrations of organic carbon, carbon isotopes (13C and 14C), atmospheric 10Be in soil, and in situ 10Be in bedrock and weathering rock were determined in a study of a profile of a grassland slope at the Heshan Hilly Land Interdisciplinary Experimental Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Guangdong Province, China. A good linear relationship between depth and the 14C apparent age of the organic carbon demonstrates that the rock weathering process and the accumulation process of organic matter in the slope are relatively stable. Both 14C and 10Be results show that about 34% of soil in the grassland slope has been eroded during the past 3800 yr. The 10Be results for interstitial soil from weathered rocks show that the 90-cm-thick weathering rock layer above the bedrock has evolved over a period of 1.36 Myr. The concentrations of in situ 10Be in the weathered rock and bedrock are 10.7 × 104 atoms/g and 8.31 × 104 atoms/g, respectively. The weathering rate of the bedrock, equivalent to the soil production rate, was estimated at 8.8 × 10-4 cm/yr, and the exposure ages of the weathered rock and the bedrock were 72 kyr and 230 kyr, respectively.

ΔR results of known-age shells from the Solomon and Coral Seas and the northwest coast of New Ireland are presented. The results are too few to be conclusive but indicate that ΔR in this region is variable. An average ΔR value of 370 ± 25 yr is recorded for a range of shell species from Kavieng Harbor, New Ireland, and is primarily attributed to weak equatorial upwelling of depleted 14C due to seasonal current reversals. In contrast, values from the Solomon and Coral Seas are lower (average ΔR = 45 ± 19 yr). Higher ΔR values for some shellfish from these 2 seas is attributed to ingestion of 14C-depleted sediment by deposit-feeding species.

Sub-fossil sections from a Florida wetland were accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dated and the sedimentological conditions were determined. 14C data were calibrated using a combined wiggle-match and 14C bomb-pulse approach. Repeatable results were obtained providing accurate peat chronologies for the last 130 calendar yr. Assessment of the different errors involved led to age models with 3–5 yr precision. This allows direct calibration of paleoenvironmental proxies with meteorological data. The time frame in which 14C dating is commonly applied can possibly be extended to include the 20th century.

Radiocarbon measurements of different lipid fractions and individual compounds, isolated from soil samples collected on 2 different agricultural long-term study sites, located in the rural area of Rotthalmünster (Germany) and in the city of Halle/Saale (Germany), were analyzed to obtain information about sources and the stability of soil organic matter (SOM). Different lipid compound classes were isolated by automated solvent extraction and subsequent medium-pressure liquid chromatography. Generally, 14C contents of lipid compound classes from topsoil samples of maize plots at Rotthalmünster are close to the modern atmospheric 14C content. Lower 14C values of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons isolated from neutral lipids suggest a contribution of old carbon to these fractions. In contrast, 14C values of bulk soil (52 pMC) as well as isolated lipid classes from Halle are highly depleted. This can be attributed to a significant contribution of fossil carbon at this site. Extremely low 14C contents of aromatic (7 pMC) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (19 pMC) reflect the admixture of fossil hydrocarbons at the Halle site. Individual phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA), which are used as a proxy for viable microbial biomass, were isolated by preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC) from topsoils at Rotthalmünster and Halle. PLFA 14C values are close to atmospheric 14C values and, thus, indicate a clear microbial preference for relatively young SOM. At Rotthalmünster, the 14C concentration of short-chain unsaturated PLFAs is not significantly different from that of the atmosphere, while the saturated PLFAs show a contribution of sub-recent SOM extending over the last decades. At Halle, up to 14% fossil carbon is incorporated in PLFAs n-C17:0 and cy-C18:0, which suggests the use of fossil carbon by soil microorganisms. Moreover, it can be concluded that the 14C age of soil carbon is not indicative of its stability.

Radiocarbon enables a distinction between contemporary and fossil carbon, which can be used for the apportionment of biogenic and anthropogenic sources in environmental studies. In order to apply this approach to carbonaceous atmospheric aerosols, it is necessary to adapt pretreatment procedures to the requirements of 14C measurements. In this work, we followed an approach in which total carbon (TC) is subdivided into fractions of different chemical and physical properties. 14C data of ambient aerosols from Zürich (Switzerland) are presented for the 2 sub-fractions of TC, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). Furthermore, OC is separated into water-insoluble OC (WINSOC) and water-soluble OC (WSOC). Results demonstrate the importance to differentiate between these fractions for 14C-deduced source apportionment, as the contributions can range between both extremes, nearly exclusively biogenic and anthropogenic.

The temporal radiocarbon variation (in terms of percent Modern Carbon: pMC) of size-fractionated airborne particulate matter (APM) collected in Tokyo between April 2002 and February 2003 was analyzed in order to get an insight into the sources of carbonaceous particles. Results indicated significant biogenic origins (approximately 40 pMC on average). In general, the seasonal and particle size variations in pMC were relatively small, with 2 exceptions: elevated pMC in coarse particles in April and October 2002, and relatively low pMC in the finest particle size fraction collected in August 2002. The former finding could be tentatively attributed to the abundance of coarse particles of biological origins, such as pollen; the latter might be due to an increased fraction of anthropogenic secondary particles.

Estimation of the magmatic contribution to soil air at Unzen Volcano, SW Japan, was carried out using carbon isotopes, both 14C and 13C, and a mixing model of isotopic mass balance in order to assess the spatial variation of magmatic influence from the volcano. The advantage of using soil air samples is that a wide range of gas sampling sites can be selected. Magmatic CO2 contributed mostly in the eastern region from Unzen Volcano. The high magmatic contribution to soil air appeared along the Akamatsudani fault zone located southeast of the volcano. Our observations across the fault also showed remarkable peaks of CO2 concentration and δ13C values, suggesting that magmatic fluid comes up along the fracture zone as for the normal fault system of the graben.