Reservoir Correction for the Central and North Kuril Islands in North Pacific Context

2017/11/16 by Ben Fitzhugh, William A Brown, William Brown
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

paper · doi:10.1017/rdc.2017.125

Abstract

Abstract We present new marine reservoir ΔR correction terms for the central and northern Kuril Islands. We estimate ΔR from a series of archaeological charcoal-shell pairs from two archaeological sites using standard calibration procedures and Monte Carlo simulation. The combined ΔR estimate for all paired samples for the Kuril samples is 508±127 yr. In the context of available North Pacific Rim ΔR estimates, the new Kuril data support the interpretation of a well-mixed, 14 C-depleted North Pacific Subarctic Gyre. For the broader subarctic North Pacific region, a ΔR estimate in the range of 440±127 yr is a reasonable correction for any coastal marine shell date, and may be applied to fish and marine mammal dates for taxa known to reside within these waters throughout their life-histories. This generalization fails as one moves south from Hokkaido along the East Asian coast. There, well-equilibrated subtropical water minimize the ΔR offset.

Citations

• A Pacific Interdecadal Climate Oscillation with Impacts on Salmon Production
• IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP
• Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates
• Modeling Atmospheric 14C Influences and 14C Ages of Marine Samples to 10,000 BC

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