Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-tnzcf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T16:05:56.993Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Protocol for Radiocarbon Dating Tropical Subfossil Cave Guano

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Christopher M Wurster,
Michael I Bird,
Ian Bull,
Charlotte Bryant and
Philippa Ascough
Christopher M Wurster
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY 16 9AL, United Kingdom. Present address: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia. Email: christopher.wurster@jcu.edu.au
Michael I Bird
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia
Ian Bull
Affiliation:
Organic Geochemistry Unit (OGU), Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
Charlotte Bryant
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Facility - Environment, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom
Philippa Ascough
Affiliation:
AMS Group, SUERC, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom
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 present accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on several organic fractions isolated from tropical guano deposits recovered from insular Southeast Asia. Differences were observed between 14C measurements made on bulk guano as well as bulk lipids, the saturated hydrocarbon fraction, solvent-extracted guano, and insect cuticles extracted from the same bulk sample. We infer that 14C dates from the bulk lipid fraction and saturated hydrocarbon fractions can be variably contaminated by exogenous carbon. In contrast, 14C measurements on solvent-extracted guano and isolated insect cuticles appear to yield the most robust age determinations.

Information

Type
Methods and Developments
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , 2009, pp. 977 - 986
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

REFERENCES

Bird, MI, Taylor, D, Hunt, C. 2005. Palaeoenvironments of insular Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial period: a savanna corridor in Sundaland? Quaternary Science Reviews 24(20–21):2228–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, MI, Boobyer, EM, Bryant, C, Lewis, HA, Paz, V, Stephens, WE. 2007. A long record of environmental change from bat guano deposits in Makangit Cave, Palawan, Philippines. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 98(1):59–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Constantine, DG. 1970. Bats in relation to the health, welfare, and economy of man. In: Wimsatt, WA, editor. Biology of Bats. Volume 2. New York: Academic Press. p 319–449.Google Scholar
Des Marais, DJ, Mitchell, JM, Meinschein, WG, Hayes, JM. 1980. The carbon isotope biogeochemistry of the individual hydrocarbons in bat guano and the ecology of the insectivorous bats in the region of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 44(12):2075–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duarte, ML, Ferreira, MC, Marvão, MR, Rocha, J. 2002. An optimised method to determine the degree of acetylation of chitin and chitosan by FTIR spectroscopy. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 31(1–3):1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferreira, RL, Prous, X, Martins, RP. 2007. Structure of bat guano communities in a dry Brazilian cave. Tropical Zoology 20(1):55–74.Google Scholar
Focher, B, Naggi, A, Torri, G, Cosani, AM. 1992. Structural differences between chitin polymorphs and their precipitates from solutions—evidence from CP-MAS 13C-NMR, FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy. Carbohydrate Polymers 17(2):97–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgins, GWL, Thorpe, JL, Coope, GR, Hedges, REM. 2001. Protocol development for purification and characterization of sub-fossil insect chitin for stable isotopic analysis and radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 43(2A):199–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Y, Bol, R, Harkness, DD, Ineson, P, Eglinton, G. 1996. Post-glacial variations in distributions, 13C and 14C contents of aliphatic hydrocarbons and bulk organic matter in three types of British acid upland soils. Organic Geochemistry 24(3):273–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karkanas, P, Rigaud, JP, Simek, JF, Albert, RM, Weiner, S. 2002. Ash bones and guano: a study of the minerals and phytoliths in the sediments of Grotte XVI, Dordogne, France. Journal of Archaeological Science 29(7):721–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, YL, Liu, ZF, Pan, WL, Wu, QJ. 2008. Absorption behaviors and structure changes of chitin in alkali solution. Carbohydrate Polymers 72(2):235–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, LJ. 2006. Environmental information from guano palynology of insectivorous bats of the central part of the United States of America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 237(1):19–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFarlane, DA, Lundberg, J, Fincham, AG. 2002. A late Quaternary paleoecological record from caves of southern Jamaica, West Indies. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 64(2):117–25.Google Scholar
Miller, RF, Fritz, P, Morgan, AV. 1988. Climatic implications of D/H ratios in beetle chitin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 66(3–4):277–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mizutani, H, McFarlane, DA, Kabaya, Y. 1992. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures of bat guanos as a record of past environments. Mass Spectroscopy 40:67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozanski, K, Stichler, W, Gonfiantini, R, Scott, EM, Beukens, RP, Kromer, B, van der Plicht, J. 1992. The IAEA 14C intercomparison exercise 1990. Radiocarbon 34(3):506–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schimmelmann, A, DeNiro, MJ. 1986. Stable isotopic studies on chitin. Measurements on chitin/chitosan isolates and D-glucosamine hydrochloride from chitin. In: Muzzarelli, RAA, Jeuniauz, C, Gooday, GW, editors. Chitin in Nature and Technology. New York: Plenum. p 357–64.Google Scholar
Scott, EM. 2003. Part 2: The Third International Radiocarbon Intercomparison (TIRI). Radiocarbon 45(2):293–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seoudi, R, Nada, AMA, Elmongy, SA, Hamed, SS. 2005. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic and AC electrical conductivity studies of chitin and its derivatives. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 98(2):936–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shahack-Gross, R, Berna, F, Karkanas, P, Weiner, S. 2004. Bat guano and preservation of archaeological remains in cave sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 31(9):1259–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stankiewicz, AB, Mastalerz, M, Hof, CHJ, Bierstedt, A, Flannery, MB, Briggs, DEG, Evershed, RP. 1998. Bio-degradation of the chitin-protein complex in crustacean cuticle. Organic Geochemistry 28(1–2):67–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, MF. 2008. Understanding the impacts of Late Quaternary climate change in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Geomorphology 101(1–2):146–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tripp, JA, Higham, TFG, Hedges, REM. 2004. A pretreatment procedure for the AMS radiocarbon dating of sub-fossil insect remains. Radiocarbon 46(1):147–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van de Velde, K, Kiekens, P. 2004. Structure analysis and degree of substitution of chitin, chitosan and dibutyrylchitin by FT-IR spectroscopy and solid state 13C NMR. Carbohydrate Polymers 58(4):409–16.Google Scholar
Wurster, CM. 2005. Advances in the reconstruction of temperature history, physiology and paleoenvironmental change: evidence from light stable isotope chemistry [PhD dissertation]. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. 280 p.Google Scholar
Wurster, CM, Patterson, WP, McFarlane, DA, Wassenaar, LI, Hobson, KA, Athfield, NB, Bird, MI. 2008. Stable carbon and hydrogen isotopes from bat guano in the Grand Canyon, USA, reveals Younger Dryas and 8.2 ka events. Geology 36(9):683–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar