AMS 14C Dating of Arctic Lake Sediments
Gifford H. Miller    gmiller@colorado.edu (Principal Investigator current)
James W. White (Co-Principal Investigator current)
            
Abstract

     This award supports the study of a series of Arctic lake-sediment cores in
     a program to ascertain the best methods of obtaining reliable 14C dates on such
     material.  The paleoclimate record in lake sediments gives a very complete
     record of climatic change, and as such these samples represent ideal material
     for the study of environmental changes which have occurred over the last
     millennium, and tens of millennia.  Earlier studies have demonstrated that
     radiocarbon dating of lake sediments can be problematic, due to the
     incorporation of fossil and reworked carbon, and uptake of dissolved carbonate
     by aquatic plants and organisms.  This project is a coordinated effort
     combining the expertise of the INSTAAR group at the University of Colorado with
     that of the AMS radiocarbon dating laboratory at University of Arizona. 
     Research will focus on extracting 14C information from a variety of physical
     and chemical separates of sediment as a function of depth in a series of lake
     cores showing both "reliable" and "problematic" dates.  This program will
     develop of procedures to produce more reliable dates for the  expected increase
     in the study of Arctic lake sediment.