20-EPN2-124: High resolution 14C dating of last glacial loess deposits on Jersey, Channel Islands
Visit by Yunus Baykal, Uppsala University (Sweden), to TA2 Facility 16 – Carbon-14 Dating AMS Laboratory (Hungary).
Dates of visit: 04 – 09 December 2022.
Report Summary: High latitude, ice marginal regions are efficient sources for atmospheric dust. Dust plays a fundamental role in the Earth’s climate system both driving and responding to climate change. Last glacial loess deposits in NW Europe potentially record past dust emissions from regions marginal to the former Eurasian Ice Sheet. However, uncertainties over the age of these deposits essentially limit their potential in reconstructing past dust activity. This project aims to build a detailed chronology of last glacial dust deposition in NW Europe through combined luminescence and 14C dating of loess on Jersey (Channel Islands).
During the Europlanet-funded 6-day research visit to the 14C accelerator mass spectrometry laboratory in Debrecen, Hungary radiocarbon dating of fossil gastropods embedded in the loess was conducted. Preliminary results are in good agreement with the existing, yet unpublished luminescence chronology. However, some ages may underestimate the depositional age due contamination from post depositional carbonate leaching. Nevertheless, the 14C ages from gastropod shells serve as valuable cross check of the OSL data and help to build a more robust age model for the loess section based on two independent dating methods.
