Reanalysis of the atmospheric radiocarbon calibration record from Lake Suigetsu, Japan

Bronk Ramsey, C., Heaton, T. J., Schlolaut, G., Staff, R. A. , Bryant, C. L., Brauer, A., Lamb, H. F., Marshall, M. H. and Nakagawa, T. (2020) Reanalysis of the atmospheric radiocarbon calibration record from Lake Suigetsu, Japan. Radiocarbon, 62(4), pp. 989-999. (doi: 10.1017/RDC.2020.18)

Abstract

Terrestrial plant macrofossils from the sedimentary record of Lake Suigetsu, Japan, provide the only quasi-continuous direct atmospheric record of radiocarbon (14C) covering the last 50 ka cal BP (Bronk Ramsey et al. 2012). Since then, new high precision data have become available on U-Th dated speleothems from Hulu Cave China, covering the same time range (Cheng et al. 2018). In addition, an updated varve-based chronology has also been published for the 2006 core from Lake Suigetsu (SG06) based on extended microscopic analysis of the sediments and improved algorithms for interpolation (Schlolaut et al. 2018). Here we reanalyze the radiocarbon dataset from Suigetsu based on the new varve counting information and the constraints imposed by the speleothem data. This enables the new information on the calendar age scale of the Suigetsu dataset to be used in the construction of the consensus IntCal calibration curve. Comparison of the speleothem and plant macrofossil records provides insight into the mechanisms underlying the incorporation of carbon into different types of record and the relative strengths of different types of archive for calibration purposes.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: We would like to acknowledge the support of the UK Natural Environment Research Council for helping to support this research both through grants (NE/F004400/1, NE/H007865/1) and for support of the NERC radiocarbon facility at Oxford and East Kilbride. Valuable support for the varve chronology was also provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI grant JP15H06905).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Staff, Dr Richard and Bryant, Dr Charlotte
• Authors: Bronk Ramsey, C., Heaton, T. J., Schlolaut, G., Staff, R. A., Bryant, C. L., Brauer, A., Lamb, H. F., Marshall, M. H., and Nakagawa, T.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Radiocarbon
• Publisher: University of Arizona
• ISSN: 0033-8222
• ISSN (Online): 1945-5755
• Published Online: 25 March 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona
• First Published: First published in Radiocarbon 62(4):989-999
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy