LONDON: Radiocarbon dating which is used to estimate the age of every particular thing on earth is facing big threat from the fossil fuel and carbon in the atmosphere. Researchers said excess of carbon in atmosphere due to burning of fossil fuel could reduce the accuracy of Radiocarbon dating.
Heather Graven, a climate-physics researcher at Imperial College London, after an analysis has found that emissions from fossil fuels are artificially raising the carbon age of the atmosphere.
Large amount of carbon in atmosphere is making objects today seem much older than they are when scrutinized by a radiocarbon dater, he said.
Dr. Graven said, “Combustion of fossil fuels is diluting the fraction of atmospheric carbon dioxide containing radiocarbon. This is making the atmosphere appear as though it has aged or lost radiocarbon by radioactive decay occurring over time”.
Radiocarbon dating works by measuring the amount of carbon-14 decay, or how much the fraction of carbon-14 versus non-radioactive carbon has changed in an object. The older an object is the lesser is the C-14 found in it.
Fossil fuels like coal and oil are so old that they contain no carbon-14 and when their emissions mix with the modern atmosphere, they flood it with non-radioactive carbon, said experts.
According to the press release of the study, the fraction of carbon-14 in the atmosphere decreased after the Industrial Revolution with the rise of fossil fuel combustion. But later in 1950s and 60s, nuclear weapons testing led to remarkable increase of carbon.
Graven said that at current rates of fossil fuel emissions, increases in non-radioactive carbon could start impacting the carbon dating by 2020.
