PREPARATIVE CENTRIFUGATION - A NEW METHOD FOR PREPARING POLLEN CONCENTRATES SUITABLE FOR RADIOCARBON DATING BY AMS

Methods of preparative centrifugation eliminate many of the difficulti es involved in preparing pollen concentrates from deposits rich in res istant organic material. Density centrifugation for the separation of pollen from a gyttja sample rich in resistant organic matter was teste d. Combining centrifugations in two CsCl solutions, one of higher dens ity and one of lower density than pollen, a pure pollen fraction was s uccessfully prepared. Data on the isodensity and sedimentation rate of 'fossilized' recent pollen from twelve tree taxa are also presented, and the potential for separating a single taxon from pollen assemblage s is demonstrated.