Another 6 years of radiocarbon secondary-standard AMS with two spectrometers

Freeman, S. P.H.T. , Dunbar, E. , Tripney, B. G. , Ascough, P. L. , Fabel, D. , Gulliver, P. , McIntyre, C. , Naysmith, P. , Shanks, R. P. and Xu, S. (2023) Another 6 years of radiocarbon secondary-standard AMS with two spectrometers. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 535, pp. 267-271. (doi: 10.1016/j.nimb.2022.12.014)

Abstract

The Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) has analysed >100,000 individual graphite preparations with two accelerator mass spectrometers. Analysis quality is maintained by a programme of secondary-standards measurement, and annual assessment of the resulting large dataset can provide insight into subtle effects. The same analyses that are used to derive external errors within individual batches of samples, or to monitor inter-batch variance, are also employed in aggregate to determine overall instrument and process performance. The recent 2021 findings are consistent with prior years’, including the apparent contradiction that secondary standard analysis can be both consistent and slightly discordant between the two instruments. However, individual sample radiocarbon measurement on both machines remains accurate and typically 3 ‰ precise.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Tripney, Dr Brian and Shanks, Dr Richard and Naysmith, Mr Phillip and Ascough, Dr Philippa and Dunbar, Dr Elaine and Xu, Dr Sheng and Fabel, Dr Derek and Freeman, Professor Stewart and Mcintyre, Dr Cameron and Gulliver, Dr Pauline
• Authors: Freeman, S. P.H.T., Dunbar, E., Tripney, B. G., Ascough, P. L., Fabel, D., Gulliver, P., McIntyre, C., Naysmith, P., Shanks, R. P., and Xu, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0168-583X
• ISSN (Online): 1872-9584
• Published Online: 30 December 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 535: 267-271
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License