Determination of C in environmental samples by accelerator mass spectrometry

Yasuike, Kaeko*; Yamada, Yoshimune*; Amano, Hikaru

Two methods are usually used for the determination of C in environmental samples. One is a traditional method by counting rays emitted from individual carbon atoms using a gas proportional counter or a liquid scintillation counter. This method suffers from the defect that a large amount of sample and a long time counting must be needed for the accurate determination of C. The other is the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) method, which has an advantage that the number of C atoms can be counted directly in a few milligrams of carbon. In this study, a promising process utilizing AMS method for the determination of C was investigated, and the same process was applied to a Japanese Cedar grown in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, (36.5N, 136.7E) to determine the past distribution of C isotopic abundance in environmental samples.