Ultra small samples directly on CO2 for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry AMS a first step towards 14CO2 dating of methane from marine sediments

Sample sizes as low as 5 μg carbon are reported for analysis directly on 14CO2 using gas ion sources. With a present lower limit of a 100 μg these ultra-small samples 14C sample sizes opens new avenues of research possibilities in environmental, archaeological, biological and medical research projects. With the possibility to 14C analyse ultra-small samples new research possibilities emerges as it will be possible to construct 14C chronologies for sediments and climatic records, which would otherwise be impossible to 14C date. Radiocarbon analysis directly on 14CO2 will allow us to determine the age of diagenic CO2 and CH4 in small 1 mL samples of pore water, which will revolutionize our ability to de-convolute simultaneous decomposition of old and new organic carbon in marine sediments.