Mike Barbetti

Review of tropospheric bomb 14C data for carbon cycle modeling and age calibration purposes

Comprehensive published radiocarbon data from selected atmospheric records, tree rings, and recent organic matter were analyzed and grouped into 4 different zones (three for the Northern Hemisphere and one for the whole Southern Hemisphere). These C-14 data for the summer season of each hemisphere were employed to construct zonal, hemispheric, and global data sets for use in regional and global carbon model calculations including calibrating and comparing carbon cycle models. In addition, extended monthly atmospheric C-14 data sets for 4 different zones were compiled for age calibration purposes. This is the first time these data sets were constructed to facilitate the dating of recent organic material using the bomb C-14 curves. The distribution of bomb C-14 reflects the major zones of atmospheric circulation.

Climatic Change in Tasmania Inferred from a 1089-Year Tree-Ring Chronology of Huon Pine

A climatically sensitive huon pine tree-ring chronology from western Tasmania allows inferences about Austral summer temperature change since A.D. 900. Since 1965, huon pine growth has been unusually rapid for trees that are in many cases over 700 years old. This growth increase correlates well with recent anomalous warming in Tasmania on the basis of instrumental records and supports claims that a climatic change, perhaps influenced by greenhouse gases, is in progress. Although this temperature increase exceeds any that are inferred to have occurred during the past 1089 years at this location, it has not yet clearly emerged from the natural background variability of climate in this part of the Southern Hemisphere.

A CHANGING TEMPERATURE RESPONSE WITH ELEVATION FOR LAGAROSTROBOS FRANKLINII IN TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA

A network of seven Huon pine ring-width chronologies is constructed from sites ranging in elevation from 200 to 950 metres above sea level in western Tasmania. The chronologies are analysed individually and collectively to explore Huon pine‘s response to climate as a function of elevation. Three chronologies from greater than 700 metres in elevation exhibit a strong, direct response to temperature for most growing season months (p<0.05), while three from below 700 metres exhibit a weaker, direct response to growing-season temperature, and a strong, inverse relationship with temperature of the prior season of growth, also significant at the 0.05 level. Moisture availability at these temperate rainforest sites is less growth-limiting than temperature, and significant correlations for January (inverse) and April (direct) of the year of growth largely reflect the inter-relationships between temperature, precipitation and cloudiness, and their combined influence on photosynthesis, particularly at higher-elevation sites. A rotated Principal Component Analysis reveals a clear grouping of the high and low-elevation chronologies, represented by the first and second eigenvectors, respectively. The 700 metre Lake Marilyn Low chronology is revealed to be a transitional site between the two groupings, and likely reflects an important climatic ecotone where both temperature and photosynthetically-active radiation drop below optimum levels for the species, and begin to directly inhibit growth. Tasmanias west coast climate has been shown to exhibit a distinct vertical structure, exemplified by a subsidence-inversion layer above 900 metres. Temperature increases slightly with altitude above 930 metres (the elevation at which a peak in daily minimum and maximum humidity levels is observed) before decreasing again. A dense, orographically-generated cloud-zone of reduced light and temperature has a mean altitude between 700 and 900 metres, with the steepest drop in both air and soil temperature exhibited between 850 and 930 metres. This structure can account for Huon pine‘s changing response to climate with elevation as described in this paper, and reinforces the importance of careful site selection for dendroclimatic research. In the case of reconstructing warm-season temperature from Tasmanian Huon pine, the desired signal might be maximised through sampling at the few rare, subalpine stands which have been located in western Tasmania. The great length afforded by the low-elevation Huon pine resource may ultimately yield a far more detailed reconstruction of regional climate throughout the Holocene, with respect to a vertical profile, following the development of more sound, mechanistically-based response models.

River stabilisation due to changing climate and vegetation during the late Quaternary in western Tasmania, Australia

Abstract The Stanley River in western Tasmania, Australia, contains sub-fossil rainforest logs within the channel and floodplain. Of the more than 85 radiocarbon dates obtained, all but 3 date from 17 ka to the present and permit an interpretation of fluvial and related environmental changes over this period. Particular attention is focused on the interactive relationship between the river and its riparian rainforest. Following the Last Glacial Maximum, the Stanley River was a laterally active gravel-load system reworking most of its valley floor in the upstream reaches. With ameliorating conditions at the end of the Pleistocene, climate became less seasonal and flow regimes less energetic. Huon pines already present in the catchment, re-asserted themselves in the form of dense tree cover along the river banks and floodplains with basal floodplain deposition shifting from gravels to coarse sands and granules. By about 3.5 ka, a further change in climate reduced stream discharges substantially. As a result the channel reduced in size, transported finer sediment, became laterally stable, and the floodplain accreted with overbank deposits of sand and silt. Huon pines falling into the channel formed obstructions of woody debris, some surviving for 2 ka. These have reduced stream power and boundary shear stress, further contributing to channel stability. Generational sequences of Huon pines on the river banks, some extending back 1–2 ka, are additional evidence of this stability. Since the Pleistocene, changing climate and the re-establishment of dense riparian rainforest appear to have stabilised the river channels and floodplains of western Tasmania.

Review of Radiocarbon Data from Atmospheric and Tree Ring Samples for the Period 1945-1997 Ad

A summary of 14C data from atmospheric sampling and measurements on wood from annual tree rings for the period 1945-1997 AD is presented and evaluated. Atmospheric records are characterized by different distributions of bomb-test 14C between the Northem and Southem Hemispheres, latitude dependence, and seasonal fluctuations. Radiocarbon data from tree rings are summarised and plotted against atmospheric records from similar latitudes. In some cases, discrepancies are found. Possible reasons for this include: 1) the use of stored carbohydrate from the previous year, 2) different 14C levels in the air around subcanopy trees due to respiration of CO2, 3) regional and local effects of anthropogenic CO2 and 14C sources, 4) sampling of wood material too close to ring boundaries, and 5) insufficient pretreatment of tree ring sampies for dating. But in cases where trees were carefully selected and the sampies adequately pretreated, radiocarbon data from tree rings show excellent agreement with direct atmospheric sampling records.

Bomb radiocarbon in annual tree rings from Thailand and Australia

We have examined the atmospheric 14C excess in the tropics and the southern hemisphere temperate region in the bomb pulse period, using two sets of cross-dated tree rings. One set was from a medium-sized three-leaf pine (Pinus kesiya) grown in northwestern Thailand and the other was from a Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) grown in northwestern Tasmania, Australia. A total of 48 annual tree rings (24 pairs) from 1952 to 1975 AD were pretreated to alpha-cellulose, combusted to CO2 and converted to graphite for 14C measurement in the tandem accelerator at ANSTO. Excellent agreement was found between our measured 14C data from tree rings and atmospheric 14C records at similar latitudes. A large depletion of atmospheric 14C for Thailand in 1953–1954 AD was observed. This might be due to a combination of the Suess effect and upwelling in the tropical Indian Ocean. The results also showed the rise and decay of bomb 14C peaks from north to south with a time delay of about 1.5 yr, and the effects of minor atmospheric nuclear tests in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A delay of at least one month for 14C in tree cellulose of Huon pine compared with that in the atmosphere was also found.

The water management network of Angkor, Cambodia

Meticulous survey of the banks, channels and reservoirs at Angkor shows them to have been part of a large scale water management network instigated in the ninth century AD. Water collected from the hills was stored and could have been distributed for a wide variety of purposes including flood control, agriculture and ritual while a system of overflows and bypasses carried surplus water away to the lake, the Tonle Sap, to the south. The network had a history of numerous additions and modifications. Earlier channels both distributed and disposed of water. From the twelfth century onwards the large new channels primarily disposed of water to the lake. The authors here present and document the latest definitive map of the water network of Angkor.

Segments of atmospheric 14C change as derived from late glacial and early Holocene floating tree-ring series

We present results of (super 14) C dating of several tree-ring series from the Late Glacial and Early Holocene, analyzed at the Heidelberg University radiocarbon laboratory. Although these are floating series, they contribute high-resolution information about the variability of atmospheric (super 14) C during those periods.

Traces of fire in the archaeological record, before one million years ago?

The earliest undoubted evidence for the controlled use of fire by humans comes from sites no more than a million years old. Recently, however, very tentative evidence for the presence of fire has come from several Lower Pleistocene sites in Africa. A systematic approach to the problem of detecting and characterizing possible ancient fireplaces is clearly needed. The use of archaeometric techniques, particularly magnetic surveying and palaeomagnetism, may be crucial. Results from experimental and Holocene fireplaces in Australia are used here in an attempt to begin formulating an approach, and palaeomagnetic results from Lower Pleistocene sites in Africa are reviewed.

Bomb radiocarbon in tree rings from northern New South Wales, Australia: Implications for dendrochronology, atmospheric transport, and air-sea exchange of CO2

We have analyzed by radiocarbon 27 consecutive single rings, starting from AD 1952, of a preliminarily cross-dated section (DFR 021) of Pinus radiata, which grew in Armidale, northern New South Wales, Australia. The bomb (super 14) C results suggested the possibility of 2 false rings, and, consequently, 2 misidentified rings in the preliminary count for this section. This possibility was supported by a better ring-width correlation between the revised DFR 021 count and other Pinus radiata chronologies in the study region. This indicated that bomb (super 14) C is a useful tool to complement the standard techniques of dendrochronology in tree species where annual rings are not always clearly defined. Our accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) (super 14) C results for Armidale Pinus radiata, on a corrected timescale, can be compared with previously published atmospheric and oceanic (super 14) C data. The data show interesting features of atmospheric circulation and the regional air-sea exchange of CO (sub 2) for the bomb period. On average, the difference between Delta (super 14) C values for Armidale (30 degrees S) and those for Tasmania (42 degrees S) was negligible, implying a small latitudinal (super 14) C gradient in the Southern Hemisphere. However, small offsets between Armidale and Tasmania were observed for some periods. The variation of these offsets suggests some slight changes in the relative contributions of the 2 excess (super 14) C sources (the northern troposphere and southern stratosphere) to the southern troposphere. In the decay of bomb (super 14) C, atmospheric (super 14) C reached a global equilibrium at the end of the 1960s and decreased exponentially, halving every 16 years. The time for air-sea exchange of CO (sub 2) for southern Pacific mid-latitudes was found to be about 7.5 yr, which was equivalent to a CO (sub 2) flux from the atmosphere to the oceans of 21.5 moles m (super -2) y (super -1) for the 1970s.