Post-bomb rise in radiocarbon activity in Denmark

During the summers of 1958 and 1959 the increase in concentration of bomb-produced radiocarbon in Denmark was several percent higher than the average increase for the hemisphere. This additional increase is probably a carbon-14 equivalent to the spring peaks in strontium-90 fallout in the North Temperate Zone in the same years, and suggests latitudinal variations in carbon-14 contamination.     

Diel periodicity of photosynthesis in polar phytoplankton: influence on primary production

In the Southern Ocean, primary production estimated from seasonal chemical and geochemical changes is two to four times greater than the value calculated from carbon-14 uptake. Since carbon uptake had typically been measured only during midday incubations, the influence of diel periodicity of photosynthesis on daily productions was not considered. Phytoplankton from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, exhibited distinct, but seasonally variable diel patterns of light-saturated and light-limited photosynthesis. Maximum photosynthetic capacity occurred about noon in early September, and its occurrence progressively shifted to about midnight by late October. This shift was accompanied by a concomitant phase shift in the occurrence of minimum photosynthetic capacity from midnight to midday. Daily production estimated from time-of-day corrected photosynthetic characteristics and from 24-hour incubations was 2.5 to 4 times greater than that predicted from 6-hour midday incubations. If similar diel periodicity in photosynthesis occurs in other polar oceans, primary production would be significantly higher than previously estimated from carbon-14 uptake measurements.     

Fallout Dosages at Washington,D.C

It has been assumed that the fission product conglomerate emits one gamma ray per beta particle throughout its lifetime. The fallout velocities are not accurately known, and in some cases the detonation and response times have been approximated. For these reasons, the dosages reported in this paper can be accurate in order of magnitude only. With these reservations, an infinity dose of 0.2 roentgen or less due to all explosions between January 1951 and May 1955 is reported for Washington, D.C. Therefore, it is probable that the total fallout from all weapons tests that have so far been conducted will produce only a fraction of the lifetime dosage due to natural radioactivity and cosmic radiation (6). Most of the dosage comes from the Nevada tests, and only a small part from the Pacific thermonuclear tests (7). Fission products contained in that part of the cloud of a thermonuclear explosion which extends above the level of precipitation is found to contribute only very slightly to the dosage at great distances. No analysis was carried out for air activity data taken at other locations, but their qualitative similarity to those taken in Washington suggests that infinity doses in most other locations in the northern hemisphere will not be greatly different. Present results are in essential agreement with two other measurements that have been reported. Eisenbud and Harley (8) have measured fallout deposited on gummed papers (9) at various locations in the United States and have found an average dose of 0.001 roentgen per year. Stewart, Crooks, and Fisher (10) have measured the activity of air, rainwater, and ground deposits in England and report an infinity dose of 0.055 roentgen. This somewhat lower figure may result from their greater distance from Nevada, which appears to be the source of most of the fallout in the United States. The authors wish to thank Dr. H. Friedman and Dr. L. B. Lockhart for their continued support and for many helpful discussions.     

Middle holocene age of the sunnyvale human skeleton

A morphologically modern human skeleton from Sunnyvale, California, previously dated by aspartic acid racemization to be approximately 70,000 years old and by uranium series isotopic ratios to be 8300 and 9000 years old, appears to be younger when dated by the carbon-14 method. Four carbon-14 determinations made by both decay and direct counting on three organic fractions of postcranial bone support a middle Holocene age assignment for the skeleton, probably in the range of 3500 to 5000 carbon-14 years before the present. This dating evidence is consistent with the geologic, archeological, and anthropometric relationships of the burial as well as previously determined carbon-14 determinations on associated materials.     

Cosmic-Ray Exposure Age of the Farmington Meteorite from Radioactive Isotopes

The cosmic-ray exposure age of the Farmington meteorite was found to be greater than 7000 years from the ratio of the carbon-14 and argon-39 present and less than 25,000 years from the ratio of the aluminum-26 and argon-39 present. This exposure age is about an order of magnitude smaller than was estimated previously.     

Banded corals: changes in oceanic carbon-14 during the little ice age

Radiocarbon analyses and stable isotope measurements are presented foro recent cores of banded corals from the Florida Straits. These values provide a record of variations in the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the dissolved inorganic carbon in the surface waters of the Gulf Stream from A.D. 1642 to 1800. An increase in the carbon-14/carbon-12 ratio of 7 per mil for coral growth during the early 1700's was most likely induced by an increase in the carbon-14/carbon-12 ratio of 20 per mil in the atmospheric carbon dioxide that occurred at about 1700. The ratios of oxygen 18 to oxygen-16 in these coral bands show a small decrease of a water temperature ( approximately 1 degrees C) during the latter part of the Little Ice Age (1700 to 1725). These results support the hypothesis that the increase in atmospheric carbon-14 at about 1700, and possibly the temperature change as well, was caused by a decrease in solar activity (Maunder sunspot minimum).     

History of atmospheric lead deposition since 12,370 (14)C yr BP from a peat bog, jura mountains, switzerland

A continuous record of atmospheric lead since 12,370 carbon-14 years before the present (14C yr BP) is preserved in a Swiss peat bog. Enhanced fluxes caused by climate changes reached their maxima 10, 590 (14)C yr BP (Younger Dryas) and 8230 (14)C yr BP. Soil erosion caused by forest clearing and agricultural tillage increased lead deposition after 5320 (14)C yr BP. Increasing lead/scandium and decreasing lead-206/lead-207 beginning 3000 (14)C yr BP indicate the beginning of lead pollution from mining and smelting, and anthropogenic sources have dominated lead emissions ever since. The greatest lead flux (15.7 milligrams per square meter per year in A.D. 1979) was 1570 times the natural, background value (0.01 milligram per square meter per year from 8030 to 5320 (14)C yr BP).     

Carbon-14 time scale extended: comparison of chronologies

Thermal diffusion isotopic enrichment of carbon-14 has extended the radiocarbon dating range to about 75,000 years ago. Twenty-eight samples obtained up to June 1976, mainly from northwest Europe, were dated. Consideration of the basic assumptions of carbon-14 dating and of the sources of contamination indicates that the ages are generally reliable. Together with the pollen analytic and stratigraphic the dates yield a more detailed radiocarbon time scale for climatic variations in northwest Europe, showing three early glacial interstades. The radiocarbon time scale agrees with the Camp Century chronology and with the thorium-230 ages of corals representing high sea level stands on New Guinea. Ther is a discrepancy between the radiocarbon time scale and the deep-sea chronology, which may be due to correlation errors. With a modified interpretation of the correlation, all four time scales agree within the estimated experimental uncertainties of the dating techniques used.     

Conversion of thyroxine to triiodothyronine in normal human subjects

The conversion of thyroxine to triiodothyronine, previously demonstrated in athyreotic human subjects, has been investigated in normal subjects who were given intravenous injections of purified thyroxine labeled with carbon-14 in ring A and in the alanine side chain. Evidence for the conversion of T4 to T3 was provided by the finding of carbon-14 in the T3 fraction isolated from serums. It is estimated that an appreciable fraction of T4 may be transformed to T3 in normal man.     

Earth rotation measured by lunar laser ranging

The estimated median accuracy of 194 single-day determinations of the earth's angular position in space is 0.7 millisecond (0.01 arc second). Comparison with classical astronomical results gives agreement to about the expected 2-millisecond uncertainty of the 5-day averages obtained by the Bureau International de l'Heure. Little evidence for very rapid variations in the earth's rotation is present in the data.     

Thyroxine: convesion to triiodothyronine by isolated perfused rat heart

Thyroxine labeled with carbon-14 and iodine-125 was perfused through surviving rat hearts. Only when unlabeled triiodothyronine was added as a carrier could the newly formed doubly labeled triiodothyronine be isolated. The fact that this triiodothyronine was labeled with the correct ratio of carbon-14 to iodine-125 indicated that it originated from thyroxine. Approximately 5 percent of the initial carbon-14 radioactivity was found in the recovered triiodothyronine.     

Atmospheric Circulation from Fission-Product Radioactivity in Surface Air

The beta-activity of fission products in surface air are analyzed in a diagram, with latitude and time as coordinates. Spring-season maxima and spread of new debris are readily discerned. Debris from 1961 Soviet testing, traveling by way of the upper troposphere or the stratosphere, arrived at 16 degrees to 35 degrees S more than a month before debris transported through the troposphere. A maximum lateral-diffusion coefficient of about 4 x 10(5) m(2) sec(-1) is implied for the tropical troposphere, and a much larger value in middle and high latitudes. Debris in the troposphere from United States testing at 2 degrees N spread mostly into the southern hemisphere.     

Tritium and carbon-14 distributions in seawater from under the ross ice shelf project ice hole

The tritium and carbon-14 activities of seawater samples collected from 22 to 200 meters below the ice at the Ross Ice Shelf Project ice hole are reported. The tritium results show that the waters below the ice have exchanged with Ross Sea water since the advent of nuclear testing. The carbon-14 results indicate that waters in the upper layer exchange in time periods of less than 6 years. Measurements of these isotopes in seawater under the Ross Ice Shelf in McMurdo Sound show that this water has a different history.     

Chronology of hawaiian glaciations

Both potassium/argon and carbon-14 ages of lava flows and tephra layers interstratified with glacial deposits on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, indicate that four episodes of ice cap glaciation culminated about 20,000, 55,000, 135,000, and 250,000 years ago. These episodes are correlated with marine isotope stages 2, 4, 6, and 8, marking times of high global ice volume.     

Pineal gland: dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate stimulation of labeled melatonin production

In organ cultures of intact rat pineal glands, N(6)O(2')-dibutyryl adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate stimulates the conversion of tritiated trytophan to tritiated melatonin, as does L-norepinephrine. Potential sites of stimulation of melatonin production by dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate are discussed, based on observations that the dibutyryl analog also stimulates the conversion of serotonin labeled with carbon-14 to carbon-14-labeled melatonin without altering hydroxyin-dole-O-methyl transferase activity or intracellular accumulation of serotonin labeled with carbon-14.     

Fallout plutonium in an alkaline, saline lake

Plutonium isotopes, derived from global fallout following atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, have been measured in the water and sediments of a natural alkaline, saline lake. The activities of fallout plutonium in the water column are about two orders of magnitude greater than in most freshwater lakes, where these nuclides are found predominantly in the sediments.     

Oxidation of graphitic carbon in certain soils

Artificial graphitic carbon-14 was oxidized to carbon-14 dioxide in the presence of certain nonsterile soils. Treatment of these soils for the inhibition of biologic activity, by several methods including 5 megarads of electron-beam irradiation, yielded much-less-reactive systems in the oxidation of carbon. Intervention of a biologic agent in some of these oxidative processes is suggested.     

Stratospheric ozone, middle ultraviolet radiation, and carbon-14 measurements of marine productivity

The effects of increased ultraviolet radiation, due to decreased stratospheric ozone, on marine phytoplankton have been investigated with the use of static bottle in situ carbon-14 productivity measurements. The relative biological efficiency for photoinhibition may be used to calculate biologically effective doses and resultant amplification factors. The carbon-14 technique (short-term incubations) is inadequate for assessment of possible large amplification factor photoprocesses that may be ecologically significant.     

Anaerobic biodegradation of DDT to DDD in soil

DDT labeled with carbon-14 was added to soil, and the mixture was incubated anaerobically for 2 weeks and 4 weeks. DDT and seven possible decomposition products were separated by thin-layer chromatography, and the radioactivity of material from individual spots was determined by liquid scintillation. The DDT was dechlorinated by soil microorganisms to DDD, and only traces of other degradation products were detected. No degradation of DDT was detected in sterile soil.     

Fallout of pyroclastic debris from submarine volcanic eruptions

Volcanic fallout deposits on land, being widespread and accessible for study, have received much attention and have revealed a great deal about subaerial eruption mechanisms. In contrast, virtually nothing is known about equivalent deposits produced by submarine volcanoes, despite the probable abundance of such material in today's oceans and in accreted volcanic arc terrains. Many submarine deposits may form by the fallout of debris to the sea floor downcurrent from the umbrella region of submarine eruption columns. Experiments on water-saturated pumice and pieces of rock (lithics) show that particles settling to the sea floor at terminal velocities of 10 to 50 centimeters per second will display conspicuous bimodality of particle diameters: pieces of pumice may be five to ten times as large as codeposited lithic fragments. Similar material, erupted into the air and deposited on land, displays less well-developed bimodality; pumice diameters are generally two to three times as large as associated lithics. Submarine fallout deposits are therefore distinctive and may be used to indicate a subaqueous origin for some of the great thicknesses of nonfossiliferous volcanic debris contained in ancient volcanic terrains worldwide whose environment of deposition has been uncertain.