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Marine radiocarbon reservoir corrections and ocean circulation
Coral from the Cocos Islands, East Indian Ocean, Australia. |
For age calibration of marine samples, the local marine radiocarbon reservoir correction (ΔR) is usually assumed to be constant through time. However, recent studies have reported variations of several hundred to a couple of thousand years in this value during the Late Glacial and the Holocene.
Here, the researchers have studied ΔR and its temporal variations for central Pacific (Hawaii, Kirabati), western Pacific (the South China Sea, the Great Barrier Reef), northern Australia and the Cocos Islands in eastern Indian Ocean.
They have also investigated whether these ΔR variations are related to changes in ocean circulation and the carbon cycles associated with climatic change.
Project support
AINSE Grants 04/178 & ARC DP0773081 for the South China Sea. AINSE Grants 97/185R & 05/014 for northern Australia. AINSE Grants 01/207 & 02/150P for the Cocos Islands. AINSE Grants 07/156 & 08/068 for Hawaii. AINSE grants 09/056, 10/076 and 11/104, and ARC DP1096184 for Moreton Bay and Heron Reef.
Project team members
Patricia Bourke (School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Charles Darwin Univ.), David Fink (ANSTO), Ed Hodge (ANSTO), Quan Hua (ANSTO), Helen McGregor (AINSE Research Fellow & School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Univ. Wollongong), Luke Nothdurft (School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, QUT) Scott Smithers (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook Univ.), Marshall Weisler (School of Social Science, Univ. Queensland), Greg Webb (School of Earth Sciences, Univ. Queensland), Colin Woodroffe (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Univ. Wollongong), Jian-xin Zhao (Radiogenic Isotope Laboratory, Univ. Queensland), Kefu Yu (South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China & Radiogenic Isotope Laboratory, Univ. Queensland).
Publications related to this project
Yu, K., Q. Hua, J.-x. Zhao, E. Hodge, D. Fink, and M. Barbetti, Holocene marine 14C reservoir age variability: evidence from 230Th-dated corals from South China Sea, Palaeoceanography, 25, PA3205, doi:10.1029/2009PA001831.
Weisler, M., Q. Hua, and J.-x. Zhao (2009), Late Holocene 14C marine reservoir correction for Hawaii derived from U-series dated archaeological coral, Radiocarbon, 51, 955-968.
Bourke, P., and Q. Hua (2009), Examining Late Holocene marine reservoir effect in archaeological fauna at Hope Inlet, Beagle Gulf, north Australia, in Terra Australis 28:New Directions in Archaeological Science, edited by A. Fairbairn, S. O'Connor and B. Marwick, pp.175-187, ANU E Press, Canberra.
McGregor, H.V., M.K. Gagan, M.T. McCulloch, E. Hodge, and G. Mortimer (2008), Mid-Holocene variability in the marine 14C reservoir age for northern coastal Papua New Guinea, Quaternary Geochronology, 3, 213-225.
Hua, Q., C.D. Woodroffe, S.G. Smithers, M. Barbetti, and D. Fink (2005), Radiocarbon in corals from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and implications for Indian Ocean circulation, Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L21602, doi: 10.1029/2005GL023882.
Hua, Q., C.D. Woodroffe, M. Barbetti, S.G. Smithers, U. Zoppi, and D. Fink (2004), Marine reservoir corrections for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Indian Ocean, Radiocarbon, 46, 603-610.
Abstracts related to this project
Nothdurft, L., J. Major, N. Leonard, J.-x. Zhao, G. Price, K. Welsh, G. Webb, and Q. Hua, Life and death of Holocene reefs of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia, The 34th International Geological Congress (IGC), 5-10 Aug 2012, Brisbane.
Hua, Q., G. Webb, J.-x. Zhao, L. Nothdurft, and G. Price, Variations in marine reservoir ages for the South-Western Pacific during the Holocene, The 21st International Radiocarbon Conference, 9-13 Jul 2012, Paris, France.
Hua, Q., G. Webb, J.-x. Zhao, L. Nothdurft, and G. Price, Variations in marine reservoir corrections for the Great Barrier Reef during the last 7000 years, The 12th International Conference on AMS, 20-25 Mar 2011, Wellington, New Zealand.
Hua, Q., M. Weisler and J.-x. Zhao, Late Holocene ΔR values for Hawaii derived from U-Th dated archaeological corals, The 20th International Radiocarbon Conference, 31 May 5 Jun 2009, Hawaii, USA.
Weisler, M., Q. Hua, and J-x. Zhao, Calibration of the late Holocene 14C marine reservoir ages in Hawaii using U-series dated coral: spatial and temporal variation in ΔR, The Australian Archaeological Association Conference, 3-6 Dec 2008, Brisbane.
Weisler, M., Q. Hua, and J-x. Zhao, Variations in late Holocene 14C marine reservoir ages in Hawaii using U-series dated corals, The Society for Hawaiian Archaeology Annual Conference, 17-19 Oct 2008, Hawaii, USA.
Hua, Q., Radiocarbon calibration and marine reservoir ages, The 4th Ainse Quaternary Dating Workshop, 26-27 Mar 2008, Lucas Heights, Sydney.
Weisler, M., Q. Hua, and J-x. Zhao (2007), Late Holocene 14C marine reservoir ages in Hawaii derived from U-series dated corals, the 17th INQUA Congress, 28 Jul 3 Aug 2007, Cairns, Australia, Quaternary International, 167-168, 444.
Yu, K., J-x. Zhao, E. Hodge, Q. Hua, M. Barbetti, and D. Fink (2007), Paired U-series and radiocarbon dating of Holocene corals from the South China Sea: Evidence for large temporal variability in 14C marine reservoir ages, the 17th INQUA Congress, 28 Jul 3 Aug 2007, Cairns, Australia, Quaternary International, 167-168, 467.
Hodge, E.J., K. Yu, J.-X. Zhao, Q. Hua, M. Barbetti, and D. Fink, Holocene 14C marine reservoir ages in the South China Sea based on U-series dated corals, The 19th International Radiocarbon Conference, 3-7 Apr 2006, Oxford, UK.
Bourke, P., and Q. Hua, Examining Late Holocene Marine Reservoir Effect in Archaeological Fauna at Hope Inlet, Beagle Gulf, north Australia, Australasian Archaeometry Conference 2005, 12-15 Dec 2005, Canberra, Australia.
Zhao, J.-X., K. Yu, Q. Hua, M. Barbetti, D. Fink, E. Hodge, and U. Zoppi, Calibration of Holocene 14C marine reservoir ages based on U-series-dated corals in the South China Sea, Australasian Archaeometry Conference 2005, 12-15 Dec 2005, Canberra, Australia.
Hua, Q., C.D. Woodroffe, S.G. Smithers, M. Barbetti, and D. Fink, Radiocarbon in corals from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and implications for Indian Ocean circulation, The 10th International Conference on AMS, 5-10 Sep 2005, Berkeley, USA.
Hua, Q., K. Yu, J.-X. Zhao, E. Hodge, M. Barbetti, D. Fink, and U. Zoppi, Variations in marine reservoir ages for the South China Sea during the Holocene, The 10th International Conference on AMS, 5-10 Sep 2005, Berkeley, USA.
Hua, Q., C.D. Woodroffe, M. Barbetti, S.G. Smithers, U. Zoppi, and D. Fink, Radiocarbon in corals from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Indian Ocean, The 18th International Radiocarbon Conference, 1-5 Sep 2003, Wellingonn, New Zealand.