Constructing deposition chronologies for peat deposits using radiocarbon dating

Abstract

Radiocarbon dating is one of the main methods used to establish peat chronologies. This article reviews the basis of the method and its application to dating of peat deposits. Important steps in the radiocarbon dating procedure are described, including selection and extraction of material (and fractions) for dating, chemical and physical preparation of media suitable for measurements, measurements of 14C activity or concentration, calculations, calibration of results and age-depth modelling.

Keywords

• accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)
• age-depth model
• 14C activity
• gas proportional counting (GPC)
• liquid scintillation counting (LSC)