Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:43:20.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Temporal Variations of Radiocarbon Reservoir Ages in the South Pacific Ocean during the Holocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2016

G S Burr ,
C Vance Haynes ,
Chuan-Chou Shen ,
Fred Taylor ,
Yu-Wei Chang ,
J W Beck ,
Vicki Nguyen  and
Weijian Zhou
G S Burr*
Affiliation:
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Earth Environment, Xi'an, China (PRC) University of Arizona, Physics Department, Tucson, AZ 85721-0081, USA
C Vance Haynes
Affiliation:
University of Arizona, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Chuan-Chou Shen
Affiliation:
National Taiwan University, High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environmental Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC)
Fred Taylor
Affiliation:
Institute for Geophysics, J.J. Pickle Research Campus, Bldg. 196, 10100 Burnet Rd. (R2200), Austin, TX 78758-4445, USA
Yu-Wei Chang
Affiliation:
National Taiwan University, High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environmental Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, Taipei, Taiwan (ROC)
J W Beck
Affiliation:
University of Arizona, Physics Department, Tucson, AZ 85721-0081, USA
Vicki Nguyen
Affiliation:
University of Arizona, Physics Department, Tucson, AZ 85721-0081, USA
Weijian Zhou
Affiliation:
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Earth Environment, Xi'an, China (PRC)
*
3Corresponding author. Email: burr@email.arizona.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses the magnitude and rate of change of radiocarbon reservoir ages from the surface ocean in the South Pacific during the Holocene. 14C reservoir ages are calculated from paired U/Th and 14C measurements. Seventeen pairs of coral dates were determined from samples collected on Rendova and Tetepare Islands, in the Solomon Islands, and from Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu. The samples are all Holocene in age, with 230Th ages ranging from about 400 to 9400 BP. Samples were collected as drill cores or surface outcrops. About half of the surface samples appear to have incorporated modern carbon through postdepositional recrystallization. Two of the core samples were also affected by carbon exchange. The Holocene 14C reservoir ages observed in this data set show stable values for the last 3000 yr, and substantial variability from 5000–6000 BP (~100 to ~950 14C yr). Persistent low values (<200 14C yr) were observed for samples from 7000–8000 BP. We attribute these variations to temporal changes in lateral advection and vertical mixing, and possibly to local environmental conditions related to the interplay between sea-level rise and episodic uplift, characteristic of all the coral localities.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , 2015 , pp. 507 - 515
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ascough, P, Cook, G, Dugmore, A. 2005. Methodological approaches to determining the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect. Progress in Physical Geography 29(4):532–47.Google Scholar
Bonjean, F, Lagerloef, GSE. 2002. Diagnostic model and analysis of the surface currents in the Tropical Pacific Ocean. Journal of Physical Oceanography 32(10):2938–54.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burr, GS, Jull, AJT. 2010. Accelerator mass spectrometry for radiocarbon research. In: Beauchemin, D, Matthews, DE, editors. The Encyclopedia of Mass Spectrometry Volume 5, Elemental and Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p 656–69.Google Scholar
Burr, GS, Edwards, RL, Donahue, DJ, Druffel, ERM, Taylor, FW. 1992. Mass spectrometric 14C and U-Th measurements in coral. Radiocarbon 34(3):611–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burr, GS, Beck, JW, Corrège, T, Cabioch, G, Taylor, FW, Donahue, DJ. 2009. Modern and Pleistocene reservoir ages inferred from South Pacific corals. Radiocarbon 51(1):319–35.Google Scholar
Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Shen, C-C, Polyak, VJ, Asmerom, Y, Woodhead, J, Hellstrom, J, Wang, YJ, Kong, XG, Spötl, C, Wang, XF, Alexander, EC. 2013. Improvements in 230Th dating, 230Th and 234U half-life values, and U-Th isotopic measurements by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 371–372:82–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donahue, DJ, Linick, TW, Jull, AJT. 1990. Isotope-ratio and background corrections for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon measurements. Radiocarbon 32(2):135–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, EM. 1981. Radiocarbon in annual coral rings from the eastern tropical Pacific. Geophysical Research Letters 8(1):59–62.Google Scholar
Druffel, ERM, Griffin, S. 1993. Large variations of surface ocean radiocarbon: evidence of circulation changes in the Southwestern Pacific. Journal of Geophysical Research 98(C11):20,249–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, ERM, Griffin, S. 1995. Regional variability of surface ocean radiocarbon from southern Great Barrier Reef corals. Radiocarbon 37(2):517–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, ERM, Griffin, S. 1999. Variability of surface ocean radiocarbon and stable isotopes in the southwestern Pacific. Journal of Geophysical Research 104(C10):23,607–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, EM, Linick, TW. 1978. Radiocarbon in annual coral rings of Florida. Geophysical Research Letters 5(11):913–6.Google Scholar
Fallon, SJ, Guilderson, TP, Caldeira, K. 2003. Carbon isotope constraints on vertical mixing and airsea CO2 exchange. Geophysical Research Letters 30(24):2289, doi:10.1029/2003GL018049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fontugne, M, Carré, M, Bentaleb, I, Julien, M, Lavallée, D. 2004. Radiocarbon reservoir age variations in the south Peruvian upwelling during the Holocene. Radiocarbon 46(2):531–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilderson, TP, Schrag, DP, Kashgarian, M, Southon, J. 1998. Radiocarbon variability in the western equatorial Pacific inferred from a high-resolution coral record from Nauru Island. Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans 103(C11):24,641–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilderson, TP, Schrag, DP, Goddard, E, Kashgarian, M, Wellington, GM, Linsley, BK. 2000. Southwest subtropical Pacific surface water radiocarbon in a high-resolution coral record. Radiocarbon 42(2):249–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilderson, TP, Schrag, DP, Cane, MA. 2004. Surface water mixing in the Solomon Sea as documented by a high-resolution coral 14C record. Journal of Climate 17(5):1147–56.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, CV Jr, Damon, PE, Grey, DC. 1966. Arizona radiocarbon dates VI. Radiocarbon 8:1–21.Google Scholar
Heiss, GA, Dullo, W-C, Joachimski, MM, Reijmer, JJG, Schuhmacher, H. 1999. Increased seasonality in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, recorded in the oxygen isotope record of a Porites lutea coral. Senckenbergiana Maritima 30(1–2):17–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogg, AG, Hua, Q, Blackwell, PG, Niu, M, Buck, CE, Guilderson, TP, Heaton, TJ, Palmer, JG, Reimer, PJ, Reimer, RW, Turney, CSM, Zimmerman, SRH. 2013. SHCal13 Southern Hemisphere calibration, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1889–903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaffey, AH, Flynn, KF, Glendenin, LE, Bentley, WC, Essling, AM. 1971. Precision measurement of halflives and specific activities of 235U and 238U. Physical Review C 4(5):1889–906.Google Scholar
Komugabe, AF, Fallon, SJ, Thresher, RE, Eggins, SM. 2014. Sea surface reservoir ages from deep-sea black corals. Deep-Sea Research II 99:207–12.Google Scholar
Mann, P, Taylor, FW, Lagoe, MB, Quarles, A, Burr, G. 1998. Accelerating late Quaternary uplift of the New Georgia Island Group (Solomon island arc) in response to subduction of the recently active Woodlark spreading center and Coleman seamount. Tectonophysics 295(3–4):259–306.Google Scholar
McGregor, HV, Gagan, MK, McCulloch, MT, Hodge, E, Mortimer, G. 2008. Mid-Holocene variability in the marine 14C reservoir age for northern coastal Papua New Guinea. Quaternary Geochronology 3(3):213–25.Google Scholar
Nozaki, Y, Rye, DM, Turekian, KK, Dodge, RE. 1978. 13C and 14C variations in a Bermuda coral. Geophysical Research 5:825–8.Google Scholar
Paterne, M, Ayliffe, LK, Arnold, M, Cabioch, G, Tisnerat-Laborde, N, Hatté, C, Douville, E, Bard, E. 2004. Paired 14C and 230Th/U dating of surface corals from the Marquesas and Vanuatu (sub-equatorial Pacific) in the 3000 to 15,000 cal yr interval. Radiocarbon 46(2):551–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petchey, F, Clark, G. 2011. Tongatapu hardwater: investigation into the 14C marine reservoir offset in lagoon, reef and open ocean environments of a limestone island. Quaternary Geochronology 6(6):539–49.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Ulm, S. 2012. Marine reservoir variation in the Bismarck region: an evaluation of spatial and temporal change in ΔR and R over the last 3000 years. Radiocarbon 54(1):45–58.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Phelan, M, White, P. 2004. New ΔR values for the southwest Pacific Ocean. Radiocarbon 46(2):1005–14.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Green, R, Jones, M, Phelan, M. 2005. A local marine reservoir correction value (ΔR) for Watom Island, Papua New Guinea. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 26:29–40.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Anderson, A, Zondervan, A, Ulm, S, Hogg, A. 2008. New marine DR values for the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre region. Radiocarbon 50(3):373–97.Google Scholar
Petchey, F, Allen, MS, Addison, D, Anderson, A. 2009. Stability in the South Pacific surface marine 14C reservoir over the last 750 years: evidence from American Samoa, the southern Cook Islands and the Marquesas. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(10):2234–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, A, Burr, GS, Taylor, FW, O'Malley, J, Beck, JW. 2004. A semiannual radiocarbon record of a modern coral from the Solomon Islands. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 223–224:420–7.Google Scholar
Shen, C-C, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Moran, SB, Edmonds, HN, Hoff, JA, Thomas, RB. 2003. Measurement of attogram quantities of 231Pa in dissolved and particulate fractions of seawater by isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectroscopy. Analytical Chemistry 75(5):1075–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shen, C-C, Li, K-S, Sieh, K, Natawidjaja, D, Cheng, H, Wang, X, Edwards, RL, Lam, DD, Hsieh, Y-T, Fan, T-Y, Meltzner, AJ, Taylor, FW, Quinn, TM, Chiang, H-W, Kilbourne, KH. 2008. Variation of initial 230Th/232Th and limits of high precision U-Th dating of shallow-water corals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 72(17):4201–23.Google Scholar
Shen, C-C, Wu, C-C, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Hsieh, Y-T, Gallet, S, Chang, C-C, Li, T-Y, Lam, DD, Kano, A, Hori, M, Spotl, C. 2012. High-precision and high-resolution carbonate 230Th dating by MC-ICP-MS with SEM protocols. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 99:71–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, FW, Mann, P, Bevis, MG, Edwards, RL, Hai, Cheng, Cutler, KB, Gray, SC, Burr, GS, Beck, JW, Phillips, DA, Cabioch, G, Récy, J. 2005. Rapid feature uplift and subsidence caused by impinging bathymetric features: examples from New Hebrides and Solomon Arcs. Tectonics 24(6):TC6005.Google Scholar
Toggweiler, JR, Dixon, K, Broecker, WS. 1991. The Peru upwelling and the ventilation of the South Pacific thermocline. Journal of Geophysical Research 96(C11):20,467–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yu, K, Hua, Q, Zhao, J-X, Hodge, E, Fink, D, Barbetti, M. 2010. Holocene marine 14C reservoir age variability: evidence from 230Th-dated corals in the South China Sea. Paleoceanography 25:PA3205.Google Scholar
Zaunbrecher, LK, Cobb, KM, Beck, JW, Charles, CD, Druffel, ERM, Fairbanks, RG, Griffin, S, Sayani, HR. 2010. Coral records of central tropical Pacific radiocarbon variability during the last millennium. Paleoceanography 25:PA4212.Google Scholar