Marine Radiocarbon Reservoir Age Along the Chilean Continental Margin

We present 37 new radiocarbon (14C) measurements from mollusk shells fragments sampled along the Chilean continental margin and stored in museum collections with known calendar age. These measurements were used to estimate the modern pre-bomb regional marine 14C age deviations from the global ocean reservoir (∆R). Together with previously published data, we calculated regional mean ∆R values for five oceanographic macro regions along the coast plus one for a mid-latitude open ocean setting. In general, upwelling regions north of 42ºS show consistent although sometimes highly variable ∆R values with regional averages ranging from 141 to 196 14C yr, whereas the mid-latitude open ocean location of the Juan Fernández archipelago and the southern Patagonian region show minor, ∆R of 40±38 14C yr, and 52±47 14C yr respectively. We attribute the alongshore decreasing pattern toward higher latitudes to the main oceanographic features along the Chilean coast such as perennial coastal upwelling in northern zone, seasonally variable upwelling at the central part and the large freshwater influence upon the southern Patagonian channels.