ALBERT

Beschreibung: Radiocarbon (14C) ages cannot provide absolutely dated chronologies for archaeological or paleoenvironmental studies directly but must be converted to calendar age equivalents using a calibration curve compensating for fluctuations in atmospheric 14C concentration. Although calibration curves are constructed from independently dated archives, they invariably require revision as new data become available and our understanding of the Earth system improves. In this volume the international 14C calibration curves for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as for the ocean surface layer, have been updated to include a wealth of new data and extended to 55,000 cal BP. Based on tree rings, IntCal20 now extends as a fully atmospheric record to ca. 13,900 cal BP. For the older part of the timescale, IntCal20 comprises statistically integrated evidence from floating tree-ring chronologies, lacustrine and marine sediments, speleothems, and corals. We utilized improved evaluation of the timescales and location variable 14C offsets from the atmosphere (reservoir age, dead carbon fraction) for each dataset. New statistical methods have refined the structure of the calibration curves while maintaining a robust treatment of uncertainties in the 14C ages, the calendar ages and other corrections. The inclusion of modeled marine reservoir ages derived from a three-dimensional ocean circulation model has allowed us to apply more appropriate reservoir corrections to the marine 14C data rather than the previous use of constant regional offsets from the atmosphere. Here we provide an overview of the new and revised datasets and the associated methods used for the construction of the IntCal20 curve and explore potential regional offsets for tree-ring data. We discuss the main differences with respect to the previous calibration curve, IntCal13, and some of the implications for archaeology and geosciences ranging from the recent past to the time of the extinction of the Neanderthals.

Beschreibung: The concentration of radiocarbon (14C) differs between ocean and atmosphere. Radiocarbon determinations from samples which obtained their 14C in the marine environment therefore need a marine-specific calibration curve and cannot be calibrated directly against the atmospheric-based IntCal20 curve. This paper presents Marine20, an update to the internationally agreed marine radiocarbon age calibration curve that provides a non-polar global-average marine record of radiocarbon from 0–55 cal kBP and serves as a baseline for regional oceanic variation. Marine20 is intended for calibration of marine radiocarbon samples from non-polar regions; it is not suitable for calibration in polar regions where variability in sea ice extent, ocean upwelling and air-sea gas exchange may have caused larger changes to concentrations of marine radiocarbon. The Marine20 curve is based upon 500 simulations with an ocean/atmosphere/biosphere box-model of the global carbon cycle that has been forced by posterior realizations of our Northern Hemispheric atmospheric IntCal20 14C curve and reconstructed changes in CO2 obtained from ice core data. These forcings enable us to incorporate carbon cycle dynamics and temporal changes in the atmospheric 14C level. The box-model simulations of the global-average marine radiocarbon reservoir age are similar to those of a more complex three-dimensional ocean general circulation model. However, simplicity and speed of the box model allow us to use a Monte Carlo approach to rigorously propagate the uncertainty in both the historic concentration of atmospheric 14C and other key parameters of the carbon cycle through to our final Marine20 calibration curve. This robust propagation of uncertainty is fundamental to providing reliable precision for the radiocarbon age calibration of marine based samples. We make a first step towards deconvolving the contributions of different processes to the total uncertainty; discuss the main differences of Marine20 from the previous age calibration curve Marine13; and identify the limitations of our approach together with key areas for further work. The updated values for ΔR, the regional marine radiocarbon reservoir age corrections required to calibrate against Marine20, can be found at the data base http://calib.org/marine/.

Beschreibung: Distributions of the species of Foraminifera (living and dead) forming the greater part of the foraminiferal faunas in marshes in Poponesset Bay, Massa- chusetts, have been studied. Eight stations were sampled bimonthly for one year (August, 1956 to September, 1957). The marsh environments vary from almost non-marine (with tidal influence) to near marine. Arenoparrella mexicana, Haplo- phragmoides hancocki, Tiphotrocha comprimata, and Trochammina macrescens de- crease with increasingly marine conditions, whereas Jadammina polystoma and Trochammina inflata increase. Other species such as Ammobaculites dilatatus, Am- motium salsum, Miliammina fusca, and Protelphidium tisburyense fluctuate inde- pendently of the degree of brackish or marine conditions. Unknown factors govern- ing micro- and macroenvironments probably play an important part in controlling distributions. Suggested factors are type of vegetation, chemical factors, pH, nutrients and food. Calcareous specimens are rapidly destroyed after death pre- sumably due either to the ability of the living form to resist acidity or to a postu- lated increase in acidity immediately below the sediment surface, more probably the latter. This destruction of the tests is of importance in the interpretation of ancient marsh environments. Many species, including the calcareous ones, had their largest living populations in June or September and their smallest in December or February. There were some exceptions such as Miliammina fusca which showed an increase in winter. The total living populations were greatest in June and lowest in December, which may be related to maximum temperature and time of greatest reduction in temperature respectively. Multiple sampling showed that distribu- tions at any one station were fairly uniform although nearby samples in different microenvironments in some cases vary considerably.