Radiocarbon dating of Irish Sea sediments

Radiocarbon dating has been carried out on three cores from areas of muddy sediments in the N. Irish Sea to estimate rates of sediment accumulation. 14C age profiles of the two eastern basin cores revealed a near-constant age from the sediment surface to the base of the core (12 500±1000 years bp). The 14C age profile of the western basin core revealed a zone of apparent mixing to a depth of 55 cm, underlain by a zone of constant sedimentation rate (0·018 cm y −1) to 160 cm. These data are discussed in relation both to previously reported sedimentological studies of the area and to the authorised discharges of low-level radioactive waste from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.