Comparison of accelerator mass spectrometric measurement with liquid scintillation counting measurement for the determination of 14C in environmental samples

Abstract The concentrations of organically-bound 14 C in tree-ring cellulose of a Japanese Black Pine grown in Shika-machi (37.0°N, 136.8°E) and those of a Japanese Cedar grown in Kanazawa (36.5°N, 136.7°E), Japan, were analyzed for the ring-years from 1989 to 1998 by the accelerator mass spectrometric measurement. The results were compared with those of the same samples analyzed by the liquid scintillation counting measurement to determine the reliability of liquid scintillation counting measurement. An important result of this study is that the sensitivity and reproducibility of accelerator mass spectrometric measurement was almost equal to that of liquid scintillation counting measurement.