Radiocarbon: nature's tracer for carbonaceous pollutants

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6383392

Currie, L A; Klouda, G A; Gerlach, R W

Recent developments in radiocarbon dating techniques have made it feasible to determine /sup 14/C//sup 12/C ratios in samples containing milligram or even microgram quantities of carbon. As a result, it has become practicable to apply these techniques to the study of trace gases and particles in the atmosphere, as a means of resolving anthropogenic from natural source components. Interpretation of /sup 14/C data is straightforward: biospheric carbon (such as vegetation) is alive with a /sup 14/C//sup 12/C ratio of about 1.5 x 10 to the 12th power, whereas fossil carbon is dead. Beyond this dichotomous classification it becomes very interesting to combine the isotopic data with concurrent chemical data, as well as spatial and temporal distributions, in order to infer the strengths of specific sources of carbonaceous pollutants. A brief review will be presented of program on atmospheric gases and carbonaceous particles. For the latter, the authors have assayed individual chemical and size fractions, and samples collected in urban, rural, and remote locales. The biogenic carbon fraction -- presumably from wood-burning -- ranged from 10 to 100% for the urban samples analyzed.

• Research Organization: National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC (USA). Gas and Particulate Science Div.
• OSTI ID: 6383392
• Report Number(s): PB-85-230811
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500101 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- Radiometric Techniques-- (-1989)
500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AGE ESTIMATION
AIR POLLUTION
APPLIANCES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOMASS
BUILDINGS
CARBON 12
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPE DATING
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
PARTICLE SIZE
POLLUTION
RADIOISOTOPES
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
RURAL AREAS
SAMPLING
SIZE
STABLE ISOTOPES
TRACER TECHNIQUES
URBAN AREAS
WOOD
WOOD BURNING APPLIANCES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES