Email the author A High-Throughput, Low-Cost Method for Analysis of Carbonate Samples for 14C
Abstract
The National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (NOSAMS) facility at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has developed an automated system for high-throughput, low-cost analysis of radiocarbon in carbonate samples (e.g. corals, carbonaceous sediments, speleothems, etc.). The method bypasses graphitization and pretreatment, and reduces costs to about 1/5th the price of a graphite-based 14C carbonate analysis, with a throughput of 60 unknowns per day and an analytical precision of better than 2%. Additionally, a simple mixing experiment indicated that extensive cleaning of carbonate samples to remove organic material is not necessary.