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Accuracy of Post-Bomb 137Cs and 14C in Dating Fluvial Deposits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lisa L. Ely ,
Robert H. Webb  and
Yehouda Enzel
Lisa L. Ely
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
Robert H. Webb
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 1675 West Anklam Road, Tucson, Arizona 85705
Yehouda Enzel
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 1675 West Anklam Road, Tucson, Arizona 85705
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Abstract

The accuracy and precision of 137Cs and 14C for dating post-1950 alluvial deposits were evaluated for deposits from known floods on two rivers in Arizona. The presence of 137Cs reliably indicates that deposition occurred after intensive above-ground nuclear testing was initiated around 1950. There was a positive correlation between the measured level of 137Cs activity and the clay content of the sediments, although 137Cs was detected even in sandy flood sediments with low clay content. 137Cs is a valuable dating tool in arid environments where organic materials for 14C or tree-ring dating are scarce and observational records are limited. The 14C activity measured in different types of fine organic detritus yielded dates within 1 to 8 yr of a 1980 flood deposit, and the accuracy was species-dependent. However, undifferentiated mixtures of fine organic materials from several post-bomb deposits of various ages repeatedly yielded dates between 1958 and 1962, and detrital charcoal yielded a date range of 1676–1939. In semiarid environments, the residence time of most types of organic debris precludes accurate annual resolution of post-bomb 14C dates.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , September 1992 , pp. 196 - 204
Copyright
University of Washington

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