Climate and environmental protection modern energy Priority Research Area POB6

Serdecznie zapraszamy wszystkich zainteresowanych na wykład dr Irki Hajdas z ETH w Zurychu pt.: "From meeting the last Neanderthals to the nuclear tests — 14C record of our past and present”.

Wykład odbędzie się w środę, 17.05.2023r. o godzinie 14:00 w Auli B Centrum Edukacyjno-Kongresowego, przy ul Konarskiego 18B. Organizatorem jest Zakład Geochronologii i Badań Izotopowych Środowiska Instytutu Fizyki CND. Wykład odbywa się w ramach realizacji programu projakościowego dotyczącego inwestycji w rozwój umiędzynarodowienia w ramach programu Inicjatywa Doskonałości - Uczelnia Badawcza.

Abstract

Title: From meeting the last Neanderthals to the nuclear tests — ¹⁴C record of our past and present.

Author: Irka Hajdas ^1,2

¹Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

²Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences & ECOTECH-COMPLEX, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland

The cosmogenic and radioactive isotope of carbon ¹⁴C is used as a tracer and a clock. Analysis of carbon-bearing material provides information on the isotopic composition, i.e., the ¹⁴C/¹²C ratio. In the 2^nd half of the last century, the method revolutionized archeology and environmental studies because it provided the much-needed chronometer for deposits of organic and inorganic carbon. Critical developments in human history such as migration, settlements, and cultural heritage) have been dated using ¹⁴C, as well as the environmental changes and events. The modern techniques allow ¹⁴C analysis on a molecular level, opening the field to new applications.

This lecture will give an overview of the potential to study the past and present environment. Anthropogenic activities have changed the ¹⁴C pools in nature and continue to do so. The combustion of fossil carbon contributes to global warming and the aging of the atmosphere (Suess effect). Radiocarbon analysis is an excellent tool for detecting fossil carbon, which can be used in environmental monitoring (fossil CO₂ pollution, biofuels, and bioplastic). The other anthropogenic effect on natural ¹⁴C is the artificially (nuclear) produced ¹⁴C. Until recently, the excess produced in above-ground atomic tests (1952-1963) remained a characteristic signal of the post-1950 atmosphere. The so-called bomb peak has been used as a tracer and time marker, for example for the onset of the Anthropocene.

Serdecznie zapraszamy do udziału!