Radiocarbon dating in groundwater systems

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Abstract

The radioactive isotope of carbon, radiocarbon (14C), was first produced artificially in 1940 by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben, who bombarded graphite in a cyclotron at the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley, CA, in an attempt to produce a radioactive isotope of carbon that could be used as a tracer in biological systems (Kamen (1963) [101]; Ruben and Kamen (1941) [102]). Carbon-14 of cosmogenic origin was discovered in atmospheric CO2 in 1946 by Willard F. Libby, who determined a half-life of 5568 a. Libby and his co-workers (Anderson et al. (1947) [103]; Libby et al. (1949) [104]) developed radiocarbon dating of organic carbon of biological origin, which revolutionized research in a number of fields, including archaeology and quaternary geology/climatology, by establishing ages and chronologies of events that have occurred over the past approximately 45 ka.
Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Radiocarbon dating in groundwater systems
Chapter 4
Year Published 2013
Language English
Publisher International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher location Vienna, Austria
Contributing office(s) National Research Program - Eastern Branch
Description 57 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Other Government Series
Larger Work Title Isotope Methods for Dating Old Groundwater
First page 33
Last page 89
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