Areas in which measurements of tritium and/or carbon-14 can assist certain investigations for various industries include:
The presence of CH4 and CO2 in locations outside landfill sites now increasingly raises the question of identifying whether the gas has originated from nearby waste or from a geological source, e.g. from coal activity, or an area of buried peat.
Characterisation is clear if a modern level of 14C in the gas can be identified and especially if 3H in higher than normal levels is also present (due to earlier disposal of dials etc. which used 3H activated luminous paint). If this 3H is in the waste tip material then it may also show up in leachates.
For more details, please see Landfill Gas Isotopic Characterisation
This is a new, experimental, application which, in principle, can differentiate between the petrochemical content, which contains zero levels of 14C (and 3H), and the biodiesel component, which is at modern levels, in fuels.
An alternative application would be to quantify the petrochemical content in CH4 used to generate "green" energy from waste material.
Please contact us to discuss possibilities.
During it's passage through the root zone layer, pure rain water accumulates modern levels of 14C (as dissolved CO2, ie carbonic acid). This "modern" 14C can act as a label to indicate the time when the water was rain. Interaction of the carbonic acid with ancient geological carbonates complicates the simplified theory but can, in some applications can be resolved by subsidiary measurements of the stable isotope ratios of 13C/13C (δ13C) in the rock and the dissolved carbonates in the final product groundwater.
RCD offers a full service for the measurement of 3H, 14C and stable isotopes in groundwaters.
Please contact us to discuss possibilities.
The provision of a full service in respect of air sampling equipment, dynamic bubblers etc, in conjunction with routine sample measurements and reporting, represents a significant part of RCD's mainstream work.
Currently service contacts held include those operating RCD developed samplers for:
Please see Custom Sampling Equipment.
The ability to carbon-date bone (from its collagen component) provides a clear differentiation between truly ancient and modern skeletal material. Ages can be specific (within the limitations of the carbon-14/radiocarbon method) for pre ~AD 1650 objects. Post AD 1650 up to AD 1950 is the period of uncertainty for carbon-14 dating:- it is known that the material lies in that period but exactly where cannot be deduced. Post 1950 is clearly discernible because of the increase of 14C in atmospheric CO2 due to the nuclear weapon trials.
For more details about carbon-14 dating generally, please see Carbon Dating For Art History.
| Home | About RCD | Carbon-14 | Tritium | Environmental Applications | Sampling Equipment | Contact Us |