Reply to comment on, "Compilation of geophysical, geochronological, and geochemical evidence indicates a rapid Mediterranean-derived submergence of the Black Sea's shelf and subsequent substantial salinification in the early Holocene" by AG Yanchilina, WBF Ryan, JF McManus, P. Dimitrov, D. Dimitrov, K. Slavova, M. Filipova-Marinova [Marine Geology 383 (2017) 14-34]

Anastasia G. Yanchilina*, William B. F. Ryan, Jerry F. McManus, Petko Dimitrov, Dimitar Dimitrov, Krasimira Slavova, Mariana Filipova-Marinova

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorialpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Soulet (2018) asserts that the calculation of the 14C reservoir age for the geochronology of the Black Sea sediments suffers from a fundamental flaw. He contends that Yanchilina et al. (2017) obtained reservoir ages by first sorting the delta O-18 and delta C-13 values of the mollusks as a function of their corresponding C-14 age before aligning the mollusk isotope curves to those of the nearby Sofular Cave. Sorting by C-14 age would lead to an incorrect calendar age for each delta O-18 and delta C-13 measurement because it does not take into account changing reservoir ages. We reply here that this sorting by C-14 age was not the procedure taken. The radiocarbon reservoir ages were derived after tuning the delta O-18 and delta C-13 composition of the mollusks, sorted by their 8180, 813C, radiocarbon age and stratigraphic location in each core, to the delta O-18 and delta C-13 composition of the U/Th dated Sofular Cave stalagmites as a function of calendar age, shown to reflect Black Sea surface water delta O-18 and delta C-13 composition.

After the calendar age was derived for each mollusk, it was then converted to a corresponding Northern Hemisphere atmospheric C-14 age using Reimer et al. (2009). The C-14 reservoir age was subsequently calculated from the difference between the measured C-14 age of the mollusks and the calculated Northern Hemisphere atmospheric C-14 age of the mollusks, R(t) = 14C(shell)(t) - 14C(atm) (t) (e.g., Ryan, 2007; Kwiecien et al., 2009; Jull et al., 2013; Philippsen, 2013; Soulet, 2015; Soulet et al., 2016). The Reimer et al. (2009) calibration used in our original study differs <0.5% from the Reimer et al. (2013) calibration.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)354-361
Number of pages8
JournalMarine Geology
Volume407
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Oceanography
  • Geology
  • Geochemistry and Petrology

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