Variations of Isotopic Composition of Carbon in the Karst Environment from Southern Poland, Present and Past
Issue Date
1999-01-01Keywords
aquatic environmentamino acids
O 18 O 16
southern Poland
caves
racemization
springs
Carpathians
Cracow Wielun Upland
dilution
Tatra Mountains
western Tatra Mountains
water
Poland
Th U
calibration
concentration
oxygen
solution features
speleothems
karst
sampling
organic acids
isotope ratios
microfossils
Plantae
algae
Central Europe
paleoclimatology
Pleistocene
organic compounds
Europe
Cenozoic
Quaternary
methods
C 14
carbon
dates
isotopes
radioactive isotopes
C 13 C 12
stable isotopes
absolute age
carbonates
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Pazdur, A., Goslar, T., Pawlyta, M., Hercman, H., & Gradziński, M. (1999). Variations of isotopic composition of carbon in the karst environment from southern Poland, present and past. Radiocarbon, 41(1), 81-97.Journal
RadiocarbonAdditional Links
http://radiocarbon.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/Abstract
We describe a comprehensive study of carbon isotopes in several karst springs and their environs in a contemporary karst environment in the region of the Cracow-Wielun Upland and Western Tatra Mountains, Southern Poland. We collected samples of water, plants and carbonate deposited on aquatic plants, and obtained 13C values and 14C concentrations. We also investigated a group of the youngest calcium carbonates from caves where deposition is still being observed or ceased no more than a few hundred years ago. The determination of a 14C dilution factor (q) in these carbonates allows us to determine the "true" radiocarbon ages of old speleothems from caves in the area under investigation and enables the use of old speleothems as suitable material for extending the 14C calibration time scale, the "Absolute" age having been determined by U/Th or amino acid racemization (AAR) dating methods. Measurements of delta-13C and 14C concentrations were made on dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) extracted from water samples. Calculated values of q range from 0.55 to 0.68 and delta-13C values range from -10 per mil to -13 per mil versus VPDB with mean values equal to 0.65 and -12 per mil, respectively. Results indicate that the dissolution process of limestone bedrock is a closed system with the dominating contributor being biogenic carbon dioxide. Isotopic composition of carbon in contemporary plants collected at the karstic springs at 3 localities is highly diverse, with different species distinctly varying in both q and delta-13C values. Extremely light values of 13C (under -40 per mil), observed in Algae and Hyloconium splendens, are correlated with 14C concentrations that are much lower than 100 pMC. Small systematic changes of isotopic composition were found in plants of the same species collected along streams at various distances from the spring. The youngest calcium carbonates from different caves show a relatively high scatter of both delta-13C values and 14C concentration. The lower reservoir effect for 14C is observed in samples with higher value of delta-13C, indicating equilibrium conditions in the sedimentation of carbonate. Pazdur et al. (1995b) presented 14C dating results and paleoclimatic interpretation of 170 14C analyses of 89 speleothems from 41 caves obtained through 1994. Investigations continued until early 1997, during which time a speleothem, JWi2, was dated by 14C, U/Th and AAR dating methods, and its stable isotope composition (delta-13C and delta-18O) analyzed in detail (reported here). Carbon isotope analyses indicate very large differences among results obtained by U/Th, AAR, and 14C dating methods.Type
Articletext
Language
enISSN
0033-8222ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1017/S0033822200019354
Scopus Count
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Iron-Manganese System for Preparation of Radiocarbon AMS Targets: Characterization of Procedural Chemical-Isotopic Blanks and FractionationVerkouteren, R. Michael; Klinedinst, Donna B.; Currie, Lloyd A. (Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1997-01-01)We report a practical system to mass-produce accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) targets with 10-100 micrograms carbon samples. Carbon dioxide is reduced quantitatively to graphite on iron fibers via manganese metal, and the Fe-C fibers are melted into a bead suitable for AMS. Pretreatment, reduction and melting processes occur in sealed quartz tubes, allowing parallel processing for otherwise time-intensive procedures. Chemical and isotopic (13C, 14C) blanks, target yields and isotopic fractionation were investigated with respect to levels of sample size, amounts of Fe and Mn, pretreatment and reduction time, and hydrogen pressure. With 7-day pretreatments, carbon blanks exhibited a lognormal mass distribution of 1.44 micrograms (central mean) with a dispersion of 0.50 micrograms (standard deviation). Reductions of 10 micrograms carbon onto targets were complete in 3-6 h with all targets, after correction for the blank, reflecting the 13C signature of the starting material. The 100 micrograms carbon samples required at least 15 h for reduction; shorter durations resulted in isotopic fractionation as a function of chemical yield. The trend in the 13C data suggested the presence of kinetic isotope effects during the reduction. The observed CO2-graphite 13C fractionation factor was 3-4% smaller than the equilibrium value in the simple Rayleigh model. The presence of hydrogen promoted methane formation in yields up to 25%. Fe-C beaded targets were made from NIST Standard Reference Materials and compared with graphitic standards. Although the 12C ion currents from the beads were one to two orders of magnitude lower than currents from the graphite, measurements of the beaded standards were reproducible and internally consistent. Measurement reproducibility was limited mainly by Poisson counting statistics and blank variability, translating to 14C uncertainties of 5-1% for 10-100 micrograms carbon samples, respectively. A bias of 5-7% (relative) was observed between the beaded and graphitic targets, possibly due to variations in sputtering fractionation dependent on sample size, chemical form and beam geometry.
-
Systematic Investigations of 14C Measurements at the Vienna Environmental Research AcceleratorRom, Werner; Golser, Robin; Kutschera, Walter; Priller, Alfred; Steier, Peter; Wild, Eva (Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1998-01-01)A newly operating accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility such as VERA has to go through an extensive testing phase in order to establish optimal conditions for 14C measurements, especially in the field of archaeological samples where an overall precision of 0.5% is desirable. We discuss the results of our measurements at the milligram carbon level as they relate to long-term stability, reproducibility, precision and isotope fractionation.
-
On Correcting 14C Ages of Gastropod Shell Carbonate for FractionationPigati, Jeffrey S. (Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 2002-01-01)Correcting the 14C age of a sample for fractionation is straightforward if the measured carbon was derived entirely from the atmosphere, either directly or through chemical and/or biological reactions that originated with atmospheric carbon. This correction is complicated in the case of gastropods that incorporate carbon from limestone or secondary carbonate (e.g. Soil carbonate) during shell formation. The carbon isotopic composition of such gastropod shells is determined by fractionation, as well as mixing of carbon from sources with different isotopic values. Only the component of shell carbonate derived from atmospheric carbon should be corrected for fractionation. In this paper, the author derives a new expression for correcting the measured 14C activity of gastropod shells for fractionation, and describe an iterative approach that allows the corrected 14C activity and the fraction of shell carbonate derived from atmospheric carbon to be determined simultaneously.