MARINE RESERVOIR CORRECTIONS FOR BOWHEAD WHALE RADIOCARBON AGE-DETERMINATIONS

Twenty-two pairs of radiocarbon dates on driftwood and bowhead whale ( Balaena mysticetus) banes from raised beaches, dates on whale bone and terrestrial plant detritus from a stratigraphic section, and 25 addit ional dates on whale bones from the lowest (less than or equal to 1 ka BP) raised beaches in the eastern Canadian Arctic suggest that a mari ne reservoir correction of about -200 years is appropriate for normali zed age determinations on bone collagen from the bowhead whale in this region. This is less than the correction (-400 years) normally applie d to carbonate shells of marine molluscs from this region. The carbon in bowhead collagen appears to be derived from the whales' zooplankton food rather than from marine bicarbonate.