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INTER-UNIVERSITY ACCELERATOR CENTRE, NEW DELHI (IUACD) RADIOCARBON DATE LIST I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2020

Rajveer Sharma ,
Pankaj Kumar Open the ORCID record for Pankaj Kumar [Opens in a new window] ,
Sunil Ojha ,
Satinath Gargari  and
Sundeep Chopra
Rajveer Sharma
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India
Pankaj Kumar*
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India
Sunil Ojha
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India
Satinath Gargari
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India
Sundeep Chopra
Affiliation:
Inter University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India
*
*Corresponding author. Email: ams.iuacd@gmail.com.
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Abstract

A new facility for radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was established in early 2015 at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre in New Delhi, India. The facility uses a 500 kV National Electrostatic Corporation (NEC) Pelletron accelerator for AMS measurements on graphite produced using the automated graphitization equipment (AGE) interfaced with an elemental analyzer and the carbonate handling system (CHS). A precision of better than 1‰ in the ratio of 14C/12C for the modern carbon sample and the background level of 1 × 10–15 from dead carbon sample has been achieved. This is the first dedicated accelerator of India only for AMS activities. This AMS system has the capabilities to perform 10Be and 26Al measurements as well.

Keywords

AMSdate listIUACDradiocarbon

Information

Type
Date List
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 62 , Issue 5 , October 2020 , pp. e1 - e13
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Copyright
© 2020 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

INTRODUCTION

A new facility for radiocarbon (14C) dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) was established in early 2015 at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre in New Delhi, India. The facility uses a 500 kV National Electrostatic Corporation (NEC) Pelletron accelerator for AMS measurements on graphite produced using the automated graphitization equipment (AGE) interfaced with an elemental analyzer and the carbonate handling system (CHS). A precision of better than 1‰ in the ratio of 14C/12C for the modern carbon sample and the background level of 1 × 10–15 from dead carbon sample has been achieved (Chopra et al. Reference Chopra, Sharma, Kumar, Ojha, Gargari, Joshi and Kanjilal2018). This is the first dedicated accelerator of India only for AMS activities. This AMS system has the capabilities to perform 10Be and 26Al measurements as well.

Acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatment protocol is followed for charcoal, sediment and peat types of samples and base-acid-base-acid-bleaching (BABAB) protocol is followed for cellulose extraction from wood samples (Nemec et al. Reference Němec, Wacker, Hajdas and Gäggeler2010). All the measured ratios of the samples are normalized to Oxalic Acid II (OXII) and normalized to δ13C = −25‰. IAEA 14C standards (C1, C2 for carbonate samples, C3, C4, C5, C9 for wood samples and C7, C8 for other organic samples)are used for quality checks. 14C ages are calculated as described in Stuiver and Polach Reference Stuiver and Polach1977. In this date list, samples measured during 2015–2016 are presented. Details of the AMS system, acceptance test results, pretreatment protocols and measurement procedures were presented at the AMS-14 Conference (Sharma et al. Reference Sharma, Umapathy, Kumar, Ojha, Gargari, Joshi, Chopra and Kanjilal2019), and further improvements were reported at the 23rd Radiocarbon Conference (Chopra et al. Reference Chopra, Sharma, Kumar, Ojha, Gargari, Joshi and Kanjilal2018).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SAMPLES

Sediment samples were collected by Dr. Deepika Tripathi, Allahabad University from an archaeological site Hetapatti Mound II (25°29′0″N, 81°55′31″E) and submitted to IUAC for 14C dating.

Hetapatti Mound II Series

*For these samples two aliquots of each sample were measured and later on, they were grouped to one sample during analysis.

Charcoal samples collected from an archaeological site Tokwa (TKW) Northern Vindhyas (24°54′20.0″N, 83°21′65.0″E) were submitted by Deepika Tripathi, Allahabad University.

TKW Series

Charcoal samples from Rakhigarhi (Harappan archaeological site, 29°17′19″N, 76°06′47″E) were submitted by Prof. M. N. Vahia, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai (Vahia et al. Reference Vahia, Kumar, Bhogale, Kothari, Chopra, Shinde, Jadhav and Shastri2016).

Rakhigarhi Series

Charcoal samples were collected from Vadnagar, Gujarat, India and submitted to IUAC by Dr. Madhulika Samanta, Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI).

Vadnagar Series

Charcoal samples collected from Karanpura (Harrappan archaelogical site, 29°05′24.0″N, 75°05′24.0″E) were submitted by Dr. V. N. Prabhakar, IIT Gandhinagar / Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Karanapura Series

Samples from Ladakh, India, were collected and submitted by Dr. S. B. Ota, ASI, New Delhi.

Ladakh Series

ANCIENT MINING

Wood samples were collected from mines located in Rajpura Dariba (RD series), Rajsamand, Rajasthan, India and Rampura Agucha (RA series), Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India by Prof. G. S. Roonwal and Dr. Pankaj Kumar, IUAC, New Delhi.

Mine Wood Series

Charcoal samples collected from Zawar mines (24°21′N, 73°41′E), Udaipur, Rajasthan, India were submitted by Prof. G. S. Roonwal and Dr. Pankaj Kumar, IUAC, New Delhi.

Zawar Mines Series

The first five samples were replicates and grouped during analysis to have a single date.

Charcoal samples collected from Karnataka gold mines were submitted by Prof. G. S. Roonwal, IUAC, New Delhi.

Karnataka Gold Mines Series

GEOLOGICAL SAMPLES

Palaeo-Seismological Samples

Samples from Imadol and Ramkot near Kathmandu, Nepal were submitted by Dr. C. P. Rajendran, Jawaharlal Neharu Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Banglore.

Samples from Wular lake (34°25′N, 74°38′E), West Nepal (Mohana Khola), Ramnagar (29°23′N, 79°07′E) and Chorgalia (29°07′N, 79°42′E) were submitted by Dr. C. P. Rajendran, JNCASR, Banglore (Rajendran et al. Reference Rajendran, Sanwal, John, Karthikeyan, Rajendran, Kumar, Jaiswal and Chopra2018a, Reference Rajendran, John, Anandasabari, Sanwal, Rajendran, Kumar and Chopra2018b).

Wular Lake Series

West Nepal Series

Ramnagar Series

Chorgalia Series

Various types of samples collected from Andman Island, India and Hajipura trench, India, were submitted by Prof. J. N. Malik, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

Andman Island Samples

Hajipura Trench Samples

PALEOCLIMATIC SAMPLES

Sediment samples from Parsons Valley Lake (11°23′15.69″N, 76°36′10.8″E) from Nilgiris District, Tamilnadu, India were submitted by Prof. Hema Achyuthan, Anna University, Chennai, India (Raja et al. Reference Raja, Achyuthan, Farooqui, Ramesh, Kumar and Chopra2018a, Reference Raja, Achyuthan, Krishnan, Kumar and Chopra2018b).

Parsons Valley Lake Series

Sediment samples from Yaracud lake (11°13′15″N, 77°28′07″E), Wular lake (34°20′38″N, 74°30′40″E), Anchar Lake (34°08′37.58″N, 74°47′10.89″E), Bandipora trench, TN East Cost and Manasbal lake (34°15′01.91″N, 74°39′26.16″E) were submitted by Prof. Hema Achyuthan, Anna University, Chennai, India (Lone et al. Reference Lone, Achyuthan, Shah, Sangode, Kumar, Chopra and Sharma2020).

Yarcaud Lake Series

Wular Lake Series

Anchar Lake and Bandipora Trench

TN East Cost

Manasbal Lake Series

Samples from Durbin valley, Sinnababusamudram and Avalanche Lake (11°17′55″N, 76°36′00″E) were submitted by Dr. Anupama Krishnamurti, French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, India.

Durbin Valley Series

Sinnababusamudram Series

Avalnche Series

Samples from Tibet, Gangotri valley (30°56′54.71″N, 79°03′37.88″E), Tapovan palaeolake (30°54′36.40″N, 79°04′30.66″E), Dokriani Valley (30°51′01.6″N, 78°44′58.2″E), Nachiketa (30°38′32.4″N, 78°28′48.7″E) Uttarakhand, India, were submitted by Dr. P. S. Ranhotra, Birbal Sahny Institute of Paleosciences (BSIP), Lucknow.

Tibet Series

Gangotri Series

Tapovan Series

Dokriani Valley Series

Nachiketa Series

Samples from Tharang, Mayur Valley, Lahaule Himalaya, H. P., India were submitted by Prof. Milap Chand Sharma, CSRD, JNU, New Delhi.

Tharang Series

Acknowledgments

The financial support of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India (MoES/P. O. (Seismo) 8 (09) – Geochron/2012) is highly acknowledged.

References

REFERENCES

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