Intercomparison of Radiocarbon Dating of Wood Samples at Lund University and ETH Zurich AMS Facilities
Extraction, Graphitization, and Measurement
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Date
2013-09
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
We conducted an interlaboratory comparison between our radiocarbon-related research group at Lund University and the established ETH-Zurich facility to test the quality of the results obtained in Lund and to identify sources of potential background differences and scatter. We did find differences between the 2 laboratories in the contributions of chemical preparation, graphitization, and measurements to the overall background. The resulting overall background is, however, almost similar. Multiple measurements on 2 wood samples of known calendar age yield consistent and accurate ¹⁴C ages in both laboratories. However, one of our known samples indicates that IntCal09 is ~38 ± 16 ¹⁴C BP too young at 7020 calendar yr BP, which is consistent with one of the raw data sets contributing to IntCal09. Overall, our results show that a systematic approach to compare the different steps involved in ¹⁴C age determination is a useful exercise to pinpoint targets for improvement of lab routines and assess interlaboratory differences. These effects do not necessarily become apparent when comparing ¹⁴C measurements that integrate over the whole process of preparation and measurement of different laboratories. © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
55 (2-3)
Pages / Article No.
391 - 400
Publisher
University of Arizona
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Date collected
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Subject
Radiocarbon Dating; Wood; Cellulose; Graphitization; Background; Intercomparison; Reproducibility
Organisational unit
08619 - Labor für Ionenstrahlphysik (LIP) / Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP)