PNAS 2013 ; published ahead of print July 1, 2013, doi:10.1073/pnas.1302226110
Bomb-curve Radiocarbon Measurement Of Recent Biologic Tissues And Applications To Wildlife Forensics And Stable Isotope (Paleo) Ecology. (2013)
Above-ground thermonuclear weapons testing from 1952 through 1962 nearly doubled the concentration of radiocarbon (14C) in the atmosphere. As a result, organic material formed during or after this period may be radiocarbon-dated using the abrupt rise and steady fall of the atmospheric 14C concentration known as the bomb-curve.
Journal
PNAS
Author(s)
Uno, K.T., Quade, J., Fisher, D. C., Wittemyer G., Douglas-Hamilton I., Andanje, S., Omondi, P., Cerling, T.E.
Summary
Above-ground thermonuclear weapons testing from 1952 through 1962 nearly doubled the concentration of radiocarbon (14C) in the atmosphere. As a result, organic material formed during or after this period may be radiocarbon-dated using the abrupt rise and steady fall of the atmospheric 14C concentration known as the bomb-curve. We test the accuracy of accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of 29 herbivore and plant tissues collected on known dates between 1905 and 2008 in East Africa. Herbivore samples include teeth, tusks, soft tissue, hair, and horn. Tissues formed after 1955 are dated to within 0.3–1.3 y of formation, depending on the tissue type, whereas tissues older than ca. 1955 have high age uncertainties (>17 y) due to the Suess effect. 14C dating of tissues has applications to stable isotope (paleo) ecology and wildlife forensics.