14C Concentrations of Single-Year Tree Rings from About 22,000 Years Ago Obtained Using a Highly Accurate Measuring Method

Abstract

We have measured the radiocarbon concentrations in single-yr tree rings of old wood by accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) using a multicathode. The 14C concentrations of 10 single-yr tree rings were measured in 100 tree rings at intervals of 10. For each single-yr tree-ring sample, typically 80 measurements of the 14C concentrations were carried out using multicathodes. The sample standard deviations indicated that there are other fluctuations of typically 1.5%, in addition to the fluctuation of the Poisson counting statistics, which is typically 3% for each measurement. The average 14C date of the tree rings was 22,130 +/306 BP for all 624 data of single-yr tree-ring samples measured by the multicathodes. From the calibration data of Lake Suigetsu, the calendar dates of these 100 tree rings were located between 25,400 cal BP and 26,150 cal BP. The 14C dates changed between 21,979 BP and 22,272 BP, with an error of approximately 50 BP, corresponding to a precision of approximately 0.5%. There was a step with a change of approximately 144 BP for each 10 yr in the time profile.