柴达木盆地察尔汗贝壳堤剖面年代学研究*

利用常规¹⁴ C、加速器(AMS)和²³⁰ Th等测年方法,对位于青藏高原东北部柴达木盆地察尔汗古湖贝壳堤剖面化石贝壳、湖泊沉积(包括现代沉积)样品有机质(包括碱性残留和胡敏酸组分)、碳酸盐(CaCO₃)和剖面顶部石盐(NaCl)晶体在不同实验室进行了系统的实验研究,探讨了不同样品测年结果的可靠性和精确性,并通过与已有研究结果的对比,对柴达木盆地贝壳堤剖面记录的察尔汗古湖高湖面演化历史进行了探讨,得出察尔汗古湖高湖面形成于约39.7~17.5 ¹⁴ C kaB.P. ; 研究证明柴达木盆地沉积物中有机质含量很低,且主要来源于菌藻类等低等藻类和微生物,受老碳和溶解物质影响强烈,因此必须经过多种方法综合测年才能比较可靠地确定所测样品的形成年代; 测年结果的不确定性不仅来源于样品自身元素(同位素)的特性和沉积过程中再沉积作用的影响,也可能源自于放射性¹⁴ C产生过程的不稳定性; 对比发现贝壳化石老于同层位有机质¹⁴ C年龄15~18ka,这可能与柴达木盆地所处的特殊地理位置和巨大的古湖泊面积及水体有关; 同时,不平衡铀系测年在确定开放体系矿物晶体年代应用中的可靠性尚须进一步深入分析,其机理也还需要探讨和实验研究。     

环渤海海岸带14C数据集（Ⅱ）

作为晚更新世与全新世地层年代测定的一种重要手段,¹⁴C测年被广泛应用于地质样品的年代测定。但对于¹⁴C数据的系统校正,迄今未得到应有的重视。文章在环渤海海岸带¹⁴C数据集(Ⅰ)的基础上,对所收集的421个由其他研究者获得的环渤海海岸带¹⁴C数据进行了系统校正。并讨论了百年、千年与万年尺度的¹⁴C数据校正效果。结果表明,直接测定值与系统校正值之间的差值常有数百年至两千年的差别。经统一校正的¹⁴C年龄,最大限度地接近样品太阳历纪年的“真实”年龄,从而有助于更加准确地重建该地区的晚更新世晚期以来的地质年代史,并可与考古纪年及其他测年方法获得的绝对年龄直接对比。     

洞穴地点骨化石铀系年龄可信度的讨论*

骨化石是铀不平衡系测年法广泛应用而又颇有争议的研究对象。文章通过对典型铀加入模式的计算,指出以α能谱的精度,二种铀系年龄差异的显著性表明近期内有较大量铀的迁移,但其在误差范围内的一致不能保证样品构成封闭体系。以往积累的数据表明,大多数洞穴地点骨化石给出了二法一致的铀系年龄,但钙板与下伏骨化石铀系年龄大多差异显著且与地层顺序矛盾,即使被次生碳酸盐岩包裹,多半骨化石的铀系年龄仍显著偏低于其包裹体。此外,相当一部分样品的U-Th同位素比难以用简单的铀后期加入或淋失来解释。基于对次生碳酸盐岩铀系年龄可信度的认识,骨化石总体上不构成封闭体系,所载铀系年代信息只具有限的分辨率。     

泥炭样品的AMS 14 C年龄测定: 全样、植物残体和孢粉浓缩物*

沉积物¹⁴ C的年龄测定一直是第四纪年代学研究的热点。文章对中国干旱、半干旱地区的内蒙古库伦泥炭剖面的泥炭全样、植物残体和孢粉浓缩物进行了AMS ¹⁴ C测年比较研究。从泥炭沉积物中提取用于AMS ¹⁴ C测年的孢粉浓缩物的关键步骤包括:过筛(125μm,63μm和10μm),重液浮选(比重1.9)及在180倍的体视显微镜下进行手工挑选。测年结果表明:孢粉浓缩物的测年值比同一层位的泥炭沉积物全样或植物残体的测年值老225~340年; 植物残体与孢粉浓缩物的测年结果较为接近。但是,距地表24~27cm处孢粉浓缩物给出了610~780A.D.的年龄值,远老于其下样点的年龄,而泥炭全样为现代样品,二者相差1255年,这可能与该样品孢粉纯度较低、掺杂有一些老碳物质燃烧后形成的微粒杂质有关。因此,提高孢粉纯度对孢粉浓缩物¹⁴ C测年至关重要。     

关中地区2万年以来黄土序列中蜗牛化石及其有机质的14C AMS测年初探

前人在黄土—古土壤地层的¹⁴C年代学研究中,探讨了不同测年物质的可靠性,但不同物质组分获得的年代差异较大,这是由于选用的样品不符合定年条件,所以选择可靠的样品组分和有效的前处理方法显得尤为重要。对关中地区2万年以来黄土序列中有机质、花粉浓缩物和蜗牛化石进行了AMS¹⁴C年代学研究。运用现生蜗牛壳体的AMS¹⁴C测定来校正化石蜗牛的年龄,结合剖面中孢粉浓缩物、土壤有机质的AMS¹⁴C年代学对比研究,发现蜗牛化石壳体的文石可以提供较可靠的年代数据,为¹⁴C测年的可靠性研究提供了一种可能的途径。     

博斯腾湖湖泊沉积物光释光年代测量*

使用光释光年代学的单片再生法测量了博斯腾湖沉积剖面中碳酸盐泥及粉砂质泥底部的浅湖相灰色粉细砂和风成沙的年龄,对剖面上部碳酸盐层中陆生植物残体进行了AMS ¹⁴ C测年。通过不同测片的等效剂量(D_e)值的分布状况评价了样品的晒褪程度,选择不随灵敏度校正后的自然释光信号变化的相对集中的等效剂量(D_e)值计算了样品的埋藏年龄。通过这些年龄结果的对比,发现石英矿物的OSL年龄和AMS ¹⁴ C年龄在地层上是一致的,表明尽管在浅湖相细砂中存在不完全晒褪,但根据相对较小而集中的D_e值计算得到的年龄结果是可靠的。这些年龄结果和地层资料揭示末次冰消期以来至早全新世,博斯腾湖处于无水干盆地向深水湖泊转化的浅水湖泊状态,现代深水博斯腾湖大约形成于距今8ka前后。     

环渤海海岸带14C数据集（Ⅰ）

环渤海泥质海岸带近30年来获得的600余个放射性碳测年数据,确定了该地区晚更新世晚期以来的基本年代地层序列。但是,对¹⁴C数据的系统校正,迄未得到应有的重视,致使在应用¹⁴C数据解释地层和地质现象的年代时,存在着一定程度的混乱。文章对作者自己所采集和由国内外有关实验室测定的126个¹⁴C数据进行了系统校正,主要步骤包括分馏效应、地区性海洋贮存库效应及大气¹⁴C含量变化校正等。建议以-2.68‰PDB作为环渤海晚更新世晚期以来半咸水和开放浅海区(潮间带与潮下带上部)贝壳的地区性^δ13C平均值。另外,讨论了在地区性海洋贮存库效应值获得之前的1990年代,以MARINE93与INTCAL93程序的平均校正年龄近似地视作该地区贝壳的校正值,以抵消这一类地区小型水体与大气迅速进行¹⁴CO₂交换而对年龄值的影响。CALIB4.4校正结果表明,前述近似校正是可行的,其结果仍可沿用。文章经统一校正的年龄,最大限度地接近其太阳历纪年的"真实"年龄,从而有助于更加准确地重建该地区的晚更新世晚期以来的地质年代史,并可与考古纪年及其他测年方法获得的绝对年龄直接对比。     

AMS14C法在地学中应用的发展近况

本文介绍了国外利用AMS¹⁴C法研究极冰、海水中溶解的碳、大气中含碳,深海沉积含碳物等的最新进展和成果。这些成果表明,由于AMS¹⁴C法测定需要的样品量仅是常规测定用量的千分之一,因而为在地学领域中的应用开辟了广阔的前景。我国的AMS¹⁴C方法研究已经起步,新方法的建成和使用必将推动有关学科的进一步发展。     

宇宙射线通量和气候变迁与地球磁场强度变化的关系

通过分析近30000年以来地球磁场强度和大气中¹⁴C 含量变化,讨论了¹⁴C年龄偏离实际值的原因,提出以地球磁场强度随时间的变化率校正¹⁴C 年龄T_c 偏离实际年龄T_t 的公式,即T_t=T_c-b(T_c-T_?|_F（1）ΔF/ΔT。用这一公式校正了¹⁴C 测年技术给出的新仙女木事件发生的时限,并获得了与树轮年龄和U-Th 年龄一致的结果。本文还对12000年以来地球磁场强度变化与气候变迁的相关性做了探讨。     

14C测年技术新进展

¹⁴C测年技术的进展主要表现为3个方面：1)¹⁴C常规测定技术向高精度发展比较成熟，目前已可以普及；2)加速器质谱技术的建立和普及，使测定要求的样品碳量减少到mg级，甚至μg级，虽然目前的精度尚未超过常规方法，但由于所需样品量极少，测定时间短而工效高，大大拓宽了应用范围；3)高精度¹⁴C－树轮年龄校正曲线的建立，不但可将样品的¹⁴C年龄转换到日历年龄，而且对有时序的系列样品的¹⁴C年龄数据通过曲线拟合方法转换到日历年龄时年龄误差大为缩小。     

ESR dating and the human evolution: contribution to the chronology of the earliest humans in Europe

In the last 20 years, the electron spin resonance (ESR) dating method has allowed the establishment of a chronological time frame over most of the history of human evolution. Despite many difficulties found for ESR dating of bones and carbonates, tooth enamel dated by ESR has been proven as a reliable method in its application to fossil teeth and quartz. Both of the latter materials have allowed dating of Early and Middle Pleistocene sites which are not datable using other methods such as the Argon–Argon method. In particular, recent discoveries of human remains in western Europe have been proposed to be sites of the earliest arrival of humans there, and have been dated to the Early Pleistocene by ESR using quartz and tooth enamel.Combined ESR and U-series dating of fossil herbivore teeth are the only means of dating layers from which such ancient remains have been recovered in western Europe. Good examples are the sites of Atapuerca Gran Dolina, Spain and Visogliano, Italy which have been dated using tooth enamel.When no bones and teeth can be found in prehistoric sites, ESR dating on quartz extracted from sediments has been used to date sites whose ages range over the entire Quaternary period. We present here two examples that occur in fluvial terraces of the river Creuse, France and at Monte Poggiolo site, Italy, where several artefacts of an archaic pebble industry have been recovered.     

A test of uranium-series dating of fossil tooth enamel: results from Tournal Cave,France

A series of well preserved mammal bones and horse teeth was analyzed from archaeological levels of Tournal Cave (Magdalenian, Aurignacian, and Mousterain) to test the hypothesis that well-crystallized enamel behaves more as a closed system than does whole bone. The isotopic composition of bones and tooth enamels from this deposit meet criteria for confidence, and gave no reasons to suspect contamination or open-system behavior. Two samples for which²³¹Pa could be analyzed showed internal concordance with the respective²³⁰Th ages. In spite of the favourable isotopic criteria, however, comparison of the U-series ages of the bones and the tooth enamel with stratigraphic position and¹⁴C control indicated the dates were not meaningful. In general, both bones and tooth enamels gave ages too young, although some were clearly too old. Neither group showed any systematic increase of age with stratigraphic depth. Tooth enamel, therefore, shows no advantage over bone for U-series dating for this site. In Tournal cave both bones and enamel are apparently open to U, which is probably cycling as a consequences of post-depositional groundwater movement.     

Timescales and mechanisms of REE and Hf uptake in fossil bones

Rare earth element (REE) patterns of fossil bones and teeth are widely used as proxies for provenance, taphonomy, and palaeoenvironment. In order to investigate if fossil bones behave as closed systems over geologic time, REE profiles were analysed by LA-ICPMS along cross sections of 54 bones from various well-characterised and well-dated settings. These include terrestrial and marine diagenetic environments, covering Early Triassic to Holocene ages. In general, all fossil bones exhibit the highest REE concentrations at the outer rim, gradually decreasing by up to four orders of magnitude toward the inner bone cortex. Intra-bone REE concentration gradients decrease significantly from Quaternary via Tertiary to Mesozoic specimens, suggesting long term REE uptake and open system behaviour of fossil bone. This view is further corroborated by ¹⁷⁶Lu-¹⁷⁶Hf dating of selected samples, all yielding significantly younger ages than the known chronostratigraphic ages. Hence, there is clear evidence for long term open system behaviour of fossil bones with respect to REE, which is in marked contrast to currently accepted models suggesting that REE uptake is only early diagenetic. Although unexpected, statistically significant four to seven point isochrons are observed for four fossil dinosaur bone samples and one Upper Triassic Mastodonsaurus tooth with MSWDs ranging from 0.083 to 4.5. Notably, mobility of Lu alone cannot account for the observed age patterns. Assuming constant Lu uptake rates over time, the radiometric ages should only be as low as half of the chronostratigraphic age. However, a six-point isochron defined by subsamples of a single Upper Triassic Mastodonsaurus tooth yields an age of 65.2 ± 1.1 Ma (MSWD = 0.68), much younger than half of the stratigraphic age (ca. 234 Ma). Hence, Hf must also undergo late diagenetic exchange. Likely mechanisms to account for the presence of statistically meaningful isochrons as well as for the late diagenetic exchange of both REE and Hf are diffusion, adsorption, and dissolution-reprecipitation processes.     

Comparison of radiocarbon and uranium-series dating methods as applied to marine apatite

A comparison of uranium-series geochronology and radiocarbon dating, the first systematic test of its kind applied to authigenic marine apatite, has been made for nine seafloor phosphate nodules sampled from the Peruvian and Chilean shelves. Radiocarbon ages agree well with the ²³⁰Th ages for all six samples with ²³⁰Th ages younger than the practical dating limit of the ¹⁴C technique for marine samples. Two of three “old” samples contain no significant ¹⁴C activities, as expected. However, one sample with a high concentration of phosphate pellets contains more than 30% of the modern ¹⁴C activity. The discrepancy between the ¹⁴C and U-series age for this sample is thought to be due to post-depositional adsorption of the particle-reactive elements thorium and protactinium onto pellet surfaces.     

In situ U-series dating by laser-ablation multi-collector ICPMS: new prospects for Quaternary geochronology

The capabilities and potential applications of in situ dating of Quaternary materials using laser ablation-MC-ICPMS are explored. ²³⁴U/²³⁸U and ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U can be measured with precision sufficient for dating at a spatial resolution of 100 μm or better in samples that contain as a little as 1 ppm uranium. Moreover, U and Th concentrations and U-series isotope ratios can be continuously profiled to determine changes in age that occur with sample growth (e.g. in speleothems). These capabilities additionally permit the dating of bones, teeth and possibly molluscs, which are subject to post-mortem open-system behaviour of U-series isotopes, and can be employed to elucidate processes of U-series migration during weathering and diagenesis. A drawback of laser ablation-MC-ICPMS is that it cannot in general provide U-series age estimates with the high precision and accuracy of conventional TIMS or solution MC-ICPMS methods. However, sample preparation is straightforward, the amount of sample consumed negligible, and it can be used to rapidly characterise or screen and select samples from which more precise and accurate dates can be obtained using conventional methods. Given further instrumental developments and the establishment of suitable matrix-matched standards for carbonates and other materials, we foresee that laser ablation-MC-ICPMS will play an increasingly important role in Quaternary dating research.     

238U, 232Th profiling and U-series isotope analysis of fossil teeth by laser ablation-ICPMS

U and Th concentration profiles in fossil hominid and faunal teeth have been measured by laser ablation ICPMS. These profiles record diverse modes of U and Th uptake, particularly within enamel, that can be broadly related to the state of sample preservation. Observed U profiles are in general inconsistent with existing diffusion–adsorption models developed for U-uptake in bone and teeth. Where the models appear applicable, calculated diffusion rates are several orders of magnitude smaller than previous estimates. Laser ablation ICPMS offers a means of rapidly characterizing U and Th distributions in the enamel and dentine components of teeth as a precursor to ESR and U-series dating. In particular, it should allow the identification of teeth (and also bone) samples that have simple U-uptake histories and are amenable to precise dating by time-consuming and expensive Th–U and Pa–U TIMS techniques. We also demonstrated the use of laser ablation ICPMS to measure U-series isotopes in dentine and enamel samples with relatively high U concentrations (>20 ppm). These results, obtained using a quadrupole ICPMS, illustrate significant promise for in situ U-series isotope analysis, particularly when combined with the greater sensitivity and multi-collection capabilities of new sector ICPMS instrumentation. The latter may permit precise isotope ratio measurements on samples containing only a few ppm of U.     

Mass spectrometric U-series dating of the Chaoxian hominin site at Yinshan,eastern China

The fossils of Chaoxian hominin, widely accepted as representing archaic Homo sapiens in eastern China, were recovered from the middle or slightly higher levels of Layer 2 deposits of a collapsed cave at Yinshan, Anhui Province. Results of mass spectrometric U-series dating of intercalated speleothem calcites are presented. Based mainly on four broadly coeval calcite samples, the hominin fossils should be bracketed in the range of 310–360 ka or somewhat older. These ages are much older than the previous estimate at 160–200 ka based on the U-series dating of fossil teeth and bones, and may be cited as supporting evidence for an earlier H. erectus–archaic H. sapiens interface in China.     

Evidence of ameliorated Middle Weichselian climate and sub‐arctic environment in the western Baltic region: coring lake sediments at Klintholm,Møn,Denmark

Coring through glaciotectonically stacked Quaternary sediments situated below sea level on the island of Møn, Denmark, recovered a succession of interstadial sediments of Middle Weichselian age. Plant and animal remains including insects found in laminated sand and mud indicate deposition in a lake surrounded by dwarf shrubs, herbs, mosses and rare trees. The insect fauna indicates a mean July temperature of 8–12 °C, suggesting an arctic to sub‐arctic environment, while winter temperatures around ?8 to ?22 °C suggest periglacial conditions with permafrost. Luminescence dating of sediment samples gave ages from 48–29 ka, and radiocarbon dating indicates deposition of plant fragments between 45 and 36 ka BP. The fossil assemblage from Møn shows close resemblance to those from other sites with similar ages found in the vicinity of the western Baltic Basin.     

U—Series Dating of Fossil Bones：Results from Chinese Sites and Discussions on Its Reliability

Calculations,according to some open-system models,point out that while a statistically significant discrepancy between the results of two U-series methods,^230Th/^234U and ^227Th/^220Th(or ^231Pa/^235U),attests a relatively recent and important uranium migration,concordant dates cannot guarantee closes-system behavior of sample.The results of 20 fossil bones from 10 Chinese sites,19 of which are determined by two U-series methods,are given,Judging from independent age controls,8 out of the 11 concordant age sets are unacceptable,The results in this paper suggest that uranium may cycle into or out of fossil bones,such geochemical events may take place at any time and no known preserving condition may securely protect them from being affected.So for the sitew we have studied,the U-series dating of fossil bones is of limited reliability.