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A High-Resolution Radiocarbon Calibration Between 11,700 and 12,400 Calendar Years Bp Derived from 230Th Ages of Corals from Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

G. S. Burr ,
J. Warren Beck ,
F. W. Taylor ,
Jacques Récy ,
R. Lawrence Edwards ,
Guy Cabioch ,
Thierry Corrège ,
D. J. Donahue  and
J. M. O'malley
G. S. Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, Physics Department, Box 0081, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0081, USA
J. Warren Beck
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, Physics Department, Box 0081, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0081, USA
F. W. Taylor
Affiliation:
Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road, Bld. 600, Austin, Texas 78759-8500, USA
Jacques Récy
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géodynamique Sous-Marine, Observatoire Océanologique, B.P. 48, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
R. Lawrence Edwards
Affiliation:
Minnesota Isotope Laboratory, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive, SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
Guy Cabioch
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géodynamique Sous-Marine, Observatoire Océanologique, B.P. 48, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
Thierry Corrège
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géodynamique Sous-Marine, Observatoire Océanologique, B.P. 48, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
D. J. Donahue
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, Physics Department, Box 0081, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0081, USA
J. M. O'malley
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, Physics Department, Box 0081, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0081, USA
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Abstract

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This paper presents radiocarbon results from a single Diploastrea heliopora coral from Vanuatu that lived during the Younger Dryas climatic episode, between ca. 11,700 and 12,400 calendar yr bp. The specimen has been independently dated with multiple 230Th measurements to permit calibration of the 14C time scale. Growth bands in the coral were used to identify individual years of growth. 14C measurements were made on each year. These values were averaged to achieve decadal resolution for the 14C calibration. The relative uncertainty of the decadal 14C data was below 1% (2σ). The data are in good agreement with the existing dendrochronology and allow for high-resolution calibration for most years. Variations in the fine structure of the 14C time series preserved in this specimen demonstrate sporadic rapid increases in the Δ14C content of the surface ocean and atmosphere. Certain sharp rises in Δ14C are coincident with gaps in coral growth evidenced by several hiatuses. These may be related to rapid climatic changes that occurred during the Younger Dryas. This is the first coral calibration with decadal resolution and the only such data set to extend beyond the dendrochronology-based 14C calibration.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 40 , Issue 3: INTCAL 98: CALIBRATION ISSUE , 1998 , pp. 1093 - 1105
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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