Studies of Non-Marine Mollusks for the Selection of Shell Samples for Radiocarbon Dating
Citation
Yates, T. (1986). Studies of non-marine mollusks for the selection of shell samples for radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon, 28(2A), 457-463.Publisher
American Journal of ScienceJournal
RadiocarbonDescription
From the 12th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Trondheim, June 24-28, 1985.Additional Links
http://radiocarbon.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/Abstract
14C dating of shells from terrestrial and freshwater mollusks is prone to distortion by post-depositional diagenesis as well as incorporation of material depleted in 14C while the mollusk was alive. Three types of diagenetic change can result: etching, the development of surface crusts, and replacement of aragonite by calcite. Inspection under the light microscope, x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscope make it possible to assess the relative importance of the changes. When they are corrfined to the surface, mechanical cleaning combined with judicious leaching can reduce them to <1% of the total sample. The corresponding errors, which can now be specified, are often no greater than those associated with the statistics of counting.Type
Proceedingstext
Language
enISSN
0033-8222ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1017/S0033822200007591