Direct application of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of leaf waxes to establish lacustrine sediment chronology

This study demonstrates use of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) for dating Holocene lacustrine sediments from carbonate-hosted Ordy Pond, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Long-chain odd-numbered normal alkanes (n-alkanes), biomarkers characteristic of terrestrial higher plants, were ubiquitous in Ordy Pond sediments. The δ¹³C of individual n-alkanes ranged from −29.9 to −25.5‰, within the expected range for n-alkanes synthesized by land plants using the C₃ or C₄ carbon fixation pathway. The ¹⁴C ages of n-alkanes determined by CSRA showed remarkably good agreement with ¹⁴C dates of rare plant macrofossils obtained from nearby sedimentary horizons. In general, CSRA of n-alkanes successfully refined the age-control of the sediments. The sum of n-alkanes in each sample produced 70–170 μg of carbon (C), however, greater age errors were confirmed for samples containing less than 80 μg of C. The ¹⁴C age of n-alkanes from one particular sedimentary horizon was 4,155 years older than the value expected from the refined age-control, resulting in an apparent and arguable age discrepancy. Several lines of evidence suggest that this particular sample was contaminated by introduction of ¹⁴C-free C during preparative capillary gas chromatography. This study simultaneously highlighted the promising potential of CSRA for paleo-applications and the risks of contamination associated with micro-scale ¹⁴C measurement of individual organic compounds.