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Radiocarbon AMS Dating of Pollen Extracted from Peat Samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

T. A. Brown,
G. W. Farwell,
P. M. Grootes and
F. H. Schmidt
T. A. Brown
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Laboratory GL-10 and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USAGeophysics Program AK-50, University of Washington
G. W. Farwell
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Laboratory GL-10 and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USA
P. M. Grootes
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Laboratory GL-10 and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USAQuaternary Isotope Laboratory AK-60 and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington
F. H. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Laboratory GL-10 and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USAWe regret the passing of our friend and colleague, Professor Emeritus Fred H. Schmidt, who died on January 17, 1991.
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Abstract

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We present 14C AMS measurements and discuss the extraction procedure used on pollen extracted from peat samples. Microscopic examination of the extracts shows that the procedure is sufficient to remove most non-pollen materials and results in an extract that is composed predominantly of pollen. The 14C dates that we obtained for pollen extracts from peat samples associated with the Mazama Ash layer are consistent with the range of bulk-sample dates obtained by others in previous studies. The limited measurement time and resulting precision (± 100 yr) of these initial measurements restrict our ability to draw firm conclusions from a comparison of the pollen extract dates with previous bulk-sample dates. We intend to adjust our procedure to improve the rejection of non-pollen materials and to increase the precision of our 14C measurements on pollen extracts from peat samples in future studies.

Information

Type
II. Applied Isotope Geochemistry
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 34 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 14th International Radiocarbon Conference , 1992, pp. 550 - 556
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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