ON THE USE OF OXIDATION FOR AMS SAMPLE PRETREATMENT

For sediments with very little carbon, traditional chemical pretreatment for radiocarbon dating has necessarily been a compromise between rigorous decontamination and economic reality, with the latter generally restricting the application of sophisticated physical and chemical sequences. Small sample size, with the concommitant ability to batch process, has allowed new techniques to be explored using AMS for radiocarbon measurement. The work reported here was directed toward the attainment of reliable sedimentary chronologies from measurements on fine charcoal fragments contained within largely inorganic deposits.