https://orbit.dtu.dk/files/3249858/2007_333.pdf

Critical comparison of radiometric and mass spectrometric methods for the determination of radionuclides in environmental, biological and nuclear waste samples.

Geochemical and geophysical implications of the radiocarbon calibration

Particle accelerators, such as those built for research in nuclear physics, can also be used together with magnetic and electrostatic mass analyzers to measure rare isotopes at very low abundance ratios. All molecular ions can be eliminated when accelerated to energies of millions of electron volts. Some atomic isobars can be eliminated with the use of negative ions; others can be separated at high energies by measuring their rate of energy loss in a detector. The long-lived radioisotopes (10)Be, (14)C,(26)A1, 36Cl, and (129)1 can now be measured in small natural samples having isotopic abundances in the range 10(-12) to 10(- 5) and as few as 10(5) atoms. In the past few years, research applications of accelerator mass spectrometry have been concentrated in the earth sciences (climatology, cosmochemistry, environmental chemistry, geochronology, glaciology, hydrology, igneous petrogenesis, minerals exploration, sedimentology, and volcanology), in anthropology and archeology (radiocarbon dating), and in physics (searches for exotic particles and measurement of halflives). In addition, accelerator mass spectrometry may become an important tool for the materials and biological sciences.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/236/4801/543.full.pdf

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry for Measurement of Long-Lived Radioisotopes

Accelerator Radiocarbon Dating at the Molecular-Level

Preface xi Acknowledgments xix Chapter 1. Metabolic Synthesis 1 Chapter 2. Chemical Biomarker Applications to Ecology and Paleoecology 19 Chapter 3. Stable Isotopes and Radiocarbon 30 Chapter 4. Analytical Chemical Methods and Instrumentation 49 Chapter 5. Carbohydrates: Neutral and Minor Sugars 79 Chapter 6. Proteins: Amino Acids and Amines 98 Chapter 7. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Tools 127 Chapter 8. Lipids: Fatty Acids 144 Chapter 9. Isoprenoid Lipids: Steroids, Hopanoids, and Triterpenoids 169 Chapter 10. Lipids: Hydrocarbons 185 Chapter 11. Lipids: Alkenones, Polar Lipids, and Ether Lipids 207 Chapter 12. Photosynthetic Pigments: Chlorophylls, Carotenoids, and Phycobilins 221 Chapter 13. Lignins, Cutins, and Suberins 248 Chapter 14. Anthropogenic Markers 267 Appendix I. Atomic Weights of Elements 287 Appendix II. Useful SI Units and Conversion Factors 291 Appendix III. Physical and Chemical Constants 293 Glossary 295 Bibliography 309 Index 385

/pdf/chemical-biomarkers-in-aquatic-ecosystems-153kxy8uyt.pdf

Chemical Biomarkers in Aquatic Ecosystems

The14C atoms naturally present in a piece of 19th-century wood have been detected directly by means of a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator used as a high-energy mass spectrometer. The14C ions were easily resolved from interfering ions with the use of a ΔE-E detector telescope (this telescope consists of a pair of detectors; one of them measures the specific ionization, ΔE, and the sum of the signals from both detectors gives the total energy for each ion, ET). The technique offers a number of practical advantages.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/198/4316/507.full.pdf

R. G. Korteling

Papers

Carbon-14: Direct Detection at Natural Concentrations