Towards radiocarbon dating of single foraminifera with a gas ion source

A versatile gas interface for routine radiocarbon analysis with a gas ion source

“…Secondly, samples are combusted in an elemental analyzer (EA) or in a thermo-optical OC/EC analyzer and the formed CO 2 is transferred to the syringe via a zeolite trap [12,17]. Thirdly, CO 2 is released from carbonates or water samples with phosphoric acid in septum-sealed vials from where it is transported in a He flow to the same trap used with the EA [18,19].…”

AixMICADAS, the accelerator mass spectrometer dedicated to 14C recently installed in Aix-en-Provence, France

“…This blank value is used for background correction of analyses with the carbonate system coupled to AixMICA-DAS. This determination is still preliminary and further experimentation is needed to identify the source of residual 14 C and reduce known memory effects of the GIS [29].…”

“…We also describe preliminary results of an original collaborative project to improve the measurements of small carbonate samples (<100 lg C), by sequential leaching with direct 14 C analysis of leached fractions and residues to better assess and remove the contamination of old samples. This project builds upon our previous experience of leaching and dating biogenic carbonates such as foraminifera and corals [2,3,4,5,6,8,9]; [11,29].…”

Moving beyond the age-depth model paradigm in deep sea palaeoclimate archives: dual radiocarbon and stable isotope analysis on single foraminifera

“…no graphitisation step is necessary. The exclusion of the graphitisation step allows for the required sample mass to be reduced down to 100 μg of CaCO 3 (12 μg C) and less (Lougheed et al, 2012;Wacker et al, 2013c), enabling sample size to be 85 reduced to one specimen in the case of a suitable foraminifera species and specimen. Procedural single specimen foraminifera blank samples (assumed Eemian age) from core T86-10P indicated an average blank value of 0.0115 F 14 C (n=10).…”

“…In this study, we utilise the latest developments in ultra-small (<100 μg CaCO 3 ) sample 14 C dating (Synal et al, 2007;Wacker et al, 2013aWacker et al, , 2013bWacker et al, , 2013c to reduce sample size to a single benthic foraminifer specimen (Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi), thereby allowing us to directly quantify intra-sample age heterogeneity and statistically analyse PDSM in the case of the low SAR (~2 cm/ka) sediment core T86-10P from the Azores region of the North Atlantic (Fig. 1).…”