Pre- and post-bomb radiocarbon in fish otoliths

Fish otoliths in superficial sediments of the Mediterranean Sea

“…Since otoliths are calcified as metastable aragonite and more rarely as vaterite (Gauldie, 1993;Kalish, 1993), they are easily and quickly exposed to post-mortem taphonomic processes that could alter their texture until their ultimate dissolution (Cherns and Wright, 2009;Flügel, 2010). Otolith survival in the fossil record, therefore, largely results from certain ambient conditions, such as burial in fine-grained sediments.…”

Age verification, growth and life history of rubyfishPlagiogeneion rubiginosum

“…These D 14 C values were plotted against estimated birth year (core samples) or estimated mean sample age (edge samples), and this plot was compared to the validated radiocarbon curve for coastal (i.e. near-surface) New Zealand waters derived from analyses of snapper (Pagrus auratus) otoliths (Kalish 1993).…”

“…The only other age and growth information available for P. rubiginosum or any closely related species is from Mel'nikov & Ivanin (1995) who examined scales of western Indian Ocean rubyfish they identified as P. rubiginosum and concluded a maximum age of 10 years. The present study aimed to resolve the uncertainties in otolith interpretation by using the bomb chronometer procedure (Kalish 1993), which is based on levels of radiocarbon in the ocean, known to have changed over recent decades. Nuclear testing in the Pacific region introduced a pulse of 14 C into the atmosphere between 1950 and 1970, which entered the ocean and quickly became incorporated in fish otoliths in concentrations proportional to ambient seawater.…”

14C Dating of Modern Marine and Estuarine Shellfish

“…Outer rings A number of workers have shown declining levels of oceanic 14C over the past two decades in both hemispheres as the marine reservoir re-equilibrates after the bomb carbon pulse (Kalish 1993;Weidman and Jones 1993;Druffel and Griffin 1995 Research into the physiognomy of molluscs has demonstrated that the carbon utilized in shell carbonate formation is derived from both dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and metabolic carbon (Tanaka et al 1986). For instance, Macomona is a deposit-feeding telenid that processes organic detritus contained within fine silts in estuarine sediments.…”