PROBLEMS IN RADIOCARBON DATING OF SOILS

We discuss our progress in three principal applications of C-14 dating of recent and fossil soils: 1) new methodS; 2) problems of interpreti ng C-14 soil data (eg., C-14 age of soils, age of soils, duration of h umus formation, rate of carbon cycling); and 3) C-14 analysis of soil organic matter (OM) in pedology and paleogeography (eg., soil genesis and evolution, humus formation and OM metamorphosis, geochronology and stratigraphy of Late Pleistocene and Holocene sediments). We suggest exploring the above issues in the analysis of each C-14 profile in con junction with paleogeographical data, and by simulation of the carbon cycle in each type of profile.