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Marine Reservoir Corrections: St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Colin A Lewis ,
Paula J Reimer  and
Ron W Reimer
Colin A Lewis*
Affiliation:
Geography Department, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
Paula J Reimer
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, 14CHRONO Centre for Climate, the Environment & Chronology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
Ron W Reimer
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, 14CHRONO Centre for Climate, the Environment & Chronology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author: C.Lewis@ru.ac.za
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Abstract

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We present the first marine reservoir age and δR determination for the island of St. Helena using marine mollusk radiocarbon dates obtained from an historical context of known age. This represents the first marine reservoir age and δR determination in the southern Atlantic Ocean within thousands of kilometers of the island. The depletion of 14C in the shells indicates a rather larger reservoir age for that portion of the surface Atlantic than models indicate. The implication is that upwelling old water along the Namibian coast is transported for a considerable distance, although it is likely to be variable on a decadal timescale. An artilleryman's button, together with other artifacts found in a midden, demonstrate association of the mollusk shells with a narrow historic period of AD 1815-1835.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , 2008 , pp. 275 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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