Radiocarbon Determinations for Estimating Groundwater Flow Velocities in Central Florida

Carbon-14 activity was determined from HCO(3)(-) in samples of groundwater obtained from the principal artesian aquifer in Florida. From these data the "age" of water obtained from a series of wells, each progressively farther down gradient on the piezometric surface, was established. Relative carbon-14 ages indicated a velocity of groundwater movement of 23 feet (7 meters) per year for about 85 miles (137 kilometers) of travel. A velocity of 23 feet per year was calculated independently from Darcy's law.

Ancient Oyster Shells on the Atlantic Continental Shelf

Shells of long-dead Crassostrea virginica are reported at 71 stations in depths of 14 to 82 meters. The depths exceed those of the estuaries where the species flourishes. Radiocarbon measurements indicate that the oysters were alive 8000 to 11,000 years ago. It is concluded that the oysters lived in lagoons or estuaries which became submerged when the sea level rose at the end of the latest glacial epoch.

Natural Carbon-14 Activity of Organic Substances in Streams

Carbon-14 measurements made on organic contaminants extracted from streams show percentages of industrial waste and domestic sewage. The method, used previously for studies of the atmosphere, can be used in studies of pollution sources.

Dating Desert Ground Water

Tritium in Arabian rainfall has followed the trend observed in North America with peaks in 1958 and the spring of 1959. These measurements will be useful for future hydrologic studies. Water from wadi gravels averages 10 yr old. Carbon-14 measurements of deep waters indicate ages of several thousand years.

Radiocarbon Dates of Pre-Mankato Events inEastern and Central North America

1) A group of samples from horizons previously correlated with the upper part of the Cary substage confirms the correlation as reasonable and is consistently related in time to the dates of the peat layer at Two Creeks and subsequent Mankato events. 2) A major glaciation affected the Great Lakes region beginning 25,000 or more yr ago and reaching its maximum extent about 18,000 yr ago. It is represented by drift correlated in Ohio with the Cary substage and, at least in part, with the Tazewell substage; in Illinois and adjacent states it is correlated with most of the Tazewell substage and with the Farmdale loess. 3) The ecology and other associations implied by the dated samples are more consistent with glacial than with nonglacial conditions. 4) The lower till at Sidney, Ohio (W-188), on which is developed a soil considered a correlative of the Fox series soil on gravels and also buried by till of the major glaciation of 25,000 to 18,000 yr ago, indicates an earlier glaciation extensively exposed in Ohio and believed to be an early Wisconsin event. Table 2. List of samples and dates arranged by age groups. See PDF for Table 5) An earlier glaciation, or glaciations, is implied at several localities by peat, gyttja, or wood more than 30,000 yr old, overlain by till. 6) The time interval between the middle group and the old group of samples, which has been determined within conservative radiocarbon limits to be greater than 3000 yr, is possibly of the order of 16,000 yr, as suggested by the depth of leaching at Sidney, Ohio. (The ages of all the samples discussed are listed in Table 2.) 7) An attempt should now be made to fix more closely the dates of the old samples and to reexamine in the field the stratigraphic sequence in the light of the radiocarbon dates discussed.

The Apparent Antagonism Between Vitamin A and Carotenoids in the Fowl

These experiments show that the pigmentation-suppressing factor in fish-liver oils is vitamin A. Carotene fed at comparable levels does not exert a suppressing effect on pigmentation. Inhibition of pigmentation takes place when there is a sufficiently large bodily store of vitamin A; it is not exclusively an intestinal phenomenon.