Radiocarbon dating techniques for tephras in central North Island,New Zealand

Tephra samples from Whakatane Ash and Rotoma Ash in central North Island of New Zealand were subject to a wide range of chemical treatments in order to isolate different components of soil organic matter for radiocarbon dating. These samples were radiocarbon-dated before and after treatments and were then compared with radiocarbon dates derived from charcoal in the same tephra formation.Tephra deposits when dated as whole samples without prior chemical treatments, yielded unreliable radiocarbon dates. The reliability was improved by chemical treatments, particularly those involving acid hydrolysis with 6 M HCl or 72% H₂SO₄. Improvement, however, was less using the classical humus extraction and fractionation procedure.