Temporal variations in the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect during the Holocene – a review
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Date
2022-12-06
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Publisher
Australasian Quaternary Association
Abstract
This paper presents a review of spatial and temporal radiocarbon (14C) variations in the surface ocean for the Tropical and South Pacific. Radiocarbon has been recognised as a powerful transient tracer for the study of ocean circulation, and its variations associated with environmental and climatic changes. Investigation of radiocarbon changes in the surface ocean with time and space, thus, not only is crucial for accurate dating of marine samples but also delivers useful information on the carbon cycle and climatic systems. Accurate and reliable dating of marine samples (e.g., shells, corals, coralline algae and foraminifers), is increasingly critical for correlating them with terrestrial and ice-core records, and consequently for better understanding of palaeoclimate. The dating, however, is not straightforward and involves estimates of the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect (or simply the marine reservoir effect, MRE), an aging effect of the surface ocean relative to the atmosphere. Traditionally, for a given location or region the MRE is generally assumed to be constant through time and its modern, pre-1950 value is used for calibrating marine 14C ages. However, there is growing evidence that the effect is not constant but varies with time. Temporal MRE variability has been reported for a number of oceans and seas during the late Quaternary and Holocene. For the Tropical and South Pacific, large temporal changes in the MRE of several hundred to almost a thousand of years during the Holocene were documented for a number of sites across the basin. Mechanisms of these changes, and their implications for climate variability and changes in ocean circulation are discussed.
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Keywords
Carbon 14, Surface area, Seas, Transients, Corals, Foraminifera, Shells, Variations
Citation
Hua, Q. (2022). Temporal variations in the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect during the Holocene – a review. Paper presented to the AQUA 2022 Conference, 6-8th December, Adelaide (pp. 57). Retrieved from: https://aqua.org.au/conference/aqua-2022/aqua-2022-conference-program-and-abstracts/