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Science 18 March 1983:
Vol. 219. no. 4590, pp. 1320 - 1321
DOI: 10.1126/science.219.4590.1320
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Articles

Earthquake Dating: An Application of Carbon-14 Atom Counting

A. B. TUCKER 1, W. WOEFLI 2, G. BONANI 2, and M. SUTER 2

1 Physics Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, California 95192
2 Laboratory for Nuclear Physics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

Milligram-sized specimens of detrital charcoal from soil layers associated with prehistoric earthquakes on the Wasatch fault in Utah have been dated by direct atom counting of carbon-14 with a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. The measured ratios of carbon-14 to carbon-12 correspond to ages of 7800, 8800, and 9000 years with uncertainties of ± 600 years.

Submitted on May 17, 1982

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)