T04_P12

A database of NERC Radiocarbon age measurements determined by accelerator mass spectrometry

Garnett M¹, Gulliver P^1,2, Ascough P¹

¹NEIF Radiocarbon Laboratory, East Kilbride, United Kingdom, ²SUERC Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, East Kilbride, United Kingdom

Radiocarbon measurements undertaken by the NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory using accelerator mass spectrometry are now freely available on a new database hosted on the World Wide Web. The measurements cover a wide range of sample types undertaken for Earth and environmental science research projects supported by the United Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Sample types include but are not restricted to, organic remains, soils, sediments, carbonates, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, and carbon dioxide. Currently, the online database contains radiocarbon ages for approximately 2000 individual samples reported between 2006 and 2010, but it is envisaged that this will expand considerably as more data are made available. Contextual information such as sampling location and associated publications are provided where available, and searches can be performed on sample location, type, project number and publication code. This new database compliments an existing, publicly available database of measurements performed using radiometric methods by the laboratory which has recently been expanded to present over 2000 measurements. It is hoped that this archive will prove useful to workers in the community who would benefit from greater availability of measurements for the purposes of performing meta-analyses, and/or synthesis of larger datasets.