Bomb Carbon-14 in Deep Sea Organisms

Abstract

THE input of carbon-14 into the atmosphere from the extensive nuclear weapons tests carried out in 1961 and 1962 is reflected in the radiocarbon activity of the inorganic carbon (CO₂, ${\text{HCO}}_{{\text{3}}^{-}}$, ${\text{CO}}_{{\text{3}}^{\text{2−}}}$) in surface seawater¹. Incorporation of this carbon-14 into marine phytoplankton through photosynthesis, and so into zooplankton and higher trophic levels in the food chain, may be used to determine the flux of organic carbon from the euphotic zone (0–100 m) into the deep sea and into the bottom sediments.