Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-npj9w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-10T03:22:14.134Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

41Ca Concentrations in Modern Bone and Their Implications for Dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Roy Middleton
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
David Fink
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Jeffrey Klein
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Pankaj Sharma
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

We have made the first measurements without pre-enrichment of 41Ca in terrestrial rock and bone samples using accelerator mass spectrometry. Although the results in tufa deposits from Egypt are in good agreement with the saturation value of 8×10-15 predicted by Raisbeck and Yiou (1979), the average 41Ca:40Ca ratio of 2×10-15 (range: 0.6 to 4.2×10-15) that we measure in modern bone is an order of magnitude lower than that obtained previously by Henning, et al (1987) on a cow bone that was measured using AMS following isotope enrichment. The low value and the variability (more than a factor of seven) of the 41Ca:40Ca ratio in modern bone make the possibility of dating bones using 41Ca unlikely.

Information

Type
I. Sample Preparation and Measurement Techniques
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science