RADIOCARBON DATING OF SHELLS AND FORAMINIFERA FROM THE SKAGEN-CORE, DENMARK - EVIDENCE OF REWORKING

We report on 69 radiocarbon dates of mollusk shells and benthic forami nifera from the upper 132 m of the marine shelf sediments of the Skage n Core (220 m total length). The dated sequence covers the Late Glacia l and the Holocene (from 15 ka BP to Recent). Sedimentation rates rang e from 1 to 70 m ka(-1). The macrofossil shell dates follow a smooth c urve constituting an age model for dating the sediments. The foraminif eral dates fall into two groups: those that agree exactly with the mol lusk shells and those that deviate substantially, always being older t han the shells by as much as 5 ka. One mixed foraminiferal sample cons isted of members from both groups, and as a result, the age deviation of the sample turned out to be some weighted average. The data indicat e that the age deviations are due to admixtures of reworked older fora minifera.