Evaluating sulfur-impurity removal and modern carbon contamination in different preparation methods for radiocarbon dating of soil samples by accelerator mass spectrometry

Radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating of soil samples by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has been proven useful for studying carbon (C) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, this application has two primary difficulties in sample preparation: inhibition of graphite formation due to sulfur (S)-containing impurities and contamination of samples with modern C (MC). Herein, we evaluated these effects using three sample preparation methods (silver foil, silver wire, and Sulfix) by conducting AMS- 14 C measurements of a 14 C-dead charred wood and S-rich soil samples. The preparation methods were all successful in graphite formation and AMS- 14 C measurement for soil samples with an organic S content <6.9 wt%. The methods showed different percent modern carbon (pMC) values from 0.16% to 0.64% for the 14 C-dead sample. The results also revealed that across different methods, MC contamination can be significantly reduced by applying two-step procedure (combustion and subsequent reaction to remove S-containing impurities) during sample preparation. The three methods had a negligible influence on determining the 14 C age for samples that were at least younger than 12,000 yr BP. As the 14 C ages of the soil samples are typically younger than 12,000 yr BP, any method explored in this study can be employed for 14 C dating with sufficient accuracy for application to C cycle studies

Absolute dating · Accelerator mass spectrometry · Carbon fibers · Chromatography · Contamination · Mass spectrometry · Radiocarbon dating · Radiochemistry · Sulfur · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Chemistry · Environmental Science · Image Processing and 3D Reconstruction · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Materials Science · Environmental Chemistry · Geology

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