Reservoir ages in Baltic Sea sediment—a case study of an isolation sequence from the Litorina Sea stage

Hedenström, Anna; Possnert, Göran

doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(01)00069-5

Cited by 30 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Similar variations were found in other Danish fjords [29], with reservoir ages up to 900 years [28]. Other coastal environments show high reservoir ages as well: In a Swedish isostatically isolated basin, reservoir effects as high as R = 1,100 to 700 14 C years were measured on clay gyttja that was deposited during the most saline coastal Litorina phase [96]. On the coast of Oman, a reservoir age of 645±40 14 C years was measured on samples from graves from the 4th millennium BC [97].…”

Section: Sediment Core Samples From the Limfjordsupporting

confidence: 55%

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

2013

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The freshwater reservoir effect can result in anomalously old radiocarbon ages of samples from lakes and rivers. This includes the bones of people whose subsistence was based on freshwater fish, and pottery in which fish was cooked. Water rich in dissolved ancient calcium carbonates, commonly known as hard water, is the most common reason for the freshwater reservoir effect. It is therefore also called hardwater effect. Although it has been known for more than 60 years, it is still less well-recognized by archaeologists than the marine reservoir effect. The aim of this study is to examine the order of magnitude and degree of variability of the freshwater reservoir effect over short and long timescales. Radiocarbon dating of recent water samples, aquatic plants, and animals, shows that age differences of up to 2000 14 C years can occur within one river. The freshwater reservoir effect has also implications for radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic pottery from inland sites of the Ertebølle culture in Northern Germany. The surprisingly old ages of the earliest pottery most probably are caused by a freshwater reservoir effect. In a sediment core from the Limfjord, northern Denmark, the impact of the freshwater reservoir effect on radiocarbon dating in an estuarine environment is examined. Here, freshwater influence causes reservoir ages to vary between 250 and 700 14 C years during the period 5400 BC -AD 700. The examples in this study show clearly that the freshwater reservoir effect can seriously corrupt radiocarbon dating at inland sites. Reservoir effects should therefore be considered whenever food remains on pottery or the bones of omnivores are radiocarbon dated -irrespective of the site's distance to the coast.

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Section: Sediment Core Samples From the Limfjordsupporting

confidence: 55%

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

2013

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“…Diatom analyses from Lake Tänavjärv (Saarse et al, 1989) and from Lake Käsmu (Kessel et al, 1986) were made by E. Vishnevskaya several years from an archipelago not far from Stockholm show reservoir ages between 1100 and 400 years (Hedenström & Possnert, 2001), commonly assumed to be in the range of 200 and 400 years (Risberg et al, 2005). The latest studies confirm not only the spatial, but also the temporal difference in the reservoir age since the Litorina Sea (Lougheed et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 53%

Mid- and late-Holocene shoreline changes along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland

Grudzinska¹,

Saarse²,

Vassiljev³

et al. 2013

Bull Geol Soc Finland

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In response to glacio-isostatic rebound in Estonia, a relative sea level fall occurred during the mid-and late-Holocene, and as a result, lowland regions in northern Estonia have experienced an evolution from sea to land. The mid-and late-Holocene shoreline changes along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland were reconstructed, using litho-, bio-and chronostratigraphical proxies from four lakes. The lakes are located within the Gulf of Finland drainage system at different altitudes between 18 and 4 m above the present sea level. The isolation from the sea and the onset of freshwater lacustrine sedimentation occurred in Tänavjärv basin at 5400 cal yr BP, in Klooga basin at 4200 cal yr BP, in Lohja basin at 2200 cal yr BP and in Käsmu basin at 1800 cal yr BP. Through the application of GIS-based analysis, a modern digital terrain model and reconstructed past water level surfaces, we present a series of scenarios of shoreline and palaeogeography changes occurring since 7800 cal yr BP. The land uplift rate, which was approximately 2.8 mm yr -1 7800 cal yr BP in the surroundings of Tänavjärv, has decreased to 2.2 mm yr -1 at present and that at Lohja from 2.4 to ca 2.0 mm yr -1 , respectively. The relative sea level curves show a land uplift decrease, which is nearly linear since the mid-Holocene.

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“…However, our reliance on bulk sediment samples for AMS dating may also be subject to error. For example, Hendenström and Possnert (2001) date paired samples of AMS dated plant macrofossils and bulk sediment samples from an isolation basin in the Baltic Sea. Their work shows that the bulk sediment samples are affected by reservoir ages, and are too old compared with the plant macrofossil ages.…”

Section: Wider Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A revised chronology for the ‘Fjord Stade’ moraine in Disko Bugt, west Greenland

Long

Roberts

2002

J Quaternary Science

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This paper re-evaluates the age of the 'Fjord Stade' moraine in Disko Bugt, a large marine embayment in west Greenland. Previous work suggests that this moraine is part of a widespread moraine complex present throughout west Greenland, which formed ca. 9300 cal. yr BP in response to either a regional climate change or the effects of topographic controls on ice-sheet recession. We present the results of a relative sea-level study using data from eight isolation basins that straddle the 'Fjord Stade' moraine in southeast Disko Bugt. Our results suggest that the moraine here formed between ca. 8400 and 7700 cal. yr BP. This is later than previously thought, and similar in timing to a widespread cooling event recorded in the Greenland ice-core records. This chronological similarity raises the possibility that the 'Fjord Stade' moraine in the study area records an ice marginal response to a major short-lived climatic cooling during the early Holocene (the so-called '8200 event').

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Reservoir ages in Baltic Sea sediment—a case study of an isolation sequence from the Litorina Sea stage

Cited by 30 publications

References 8 publications

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

Mid- and late-Holocene shoreline changes along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland

A revised chronology for the ‘Fjord Stade’ moraine in Disko Bugt, west Greenland

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