Carbon-14 analysis is a radiometric method that quantifies the abundance of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 (¹⁴C) in organic or carbonate samples to infer age, carbon turnover, or source attribution. It typically employs accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) or, less commonly, beta-decay counting to measure ¹⁴C/¹²C or ¹⁴C/¹³C ratios relative to standards, correcting for isotopic fractionation and background contamination. Methodological steps include chemical pretreatment to isolate target carbon fractions, combustion or hydrolysis to CO₂, graphitization or conversion for AMS targets, and calibration of radiocarbon ages using internationally agreed calibration curves to account for temporal variations in atmospheric ¹⁴C.
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