Reconciling the Greenland ice-core and radiocarbon timescales through the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion- review
The article "Reconciling the Greenland ice-core and radiocarbon timescales through the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion" by Richard A. Staff et al. (2019) investigates the discrepancy between the Greenland ice-core and radiocarbon timescales for the period around the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion (LGM). The LGM was a brief period, about 41,000 years ago, when the Earth's magnetic field weakened significantly, before returning to its normal strength. This event is recorded in Greenland ice cores as a sharp decrease in the concentration of cosmogenic radionuclides, such as 10Be and 14C. The authors of the article argue that the discrepancy between the two timescales is due to an error in the calibration curve used to convert radiocarbon dates to calendar years. The IntCal13 calibration curve, which is the most commonly used curve, is based on a dataset of tree rings that does not extend back to the LGM. This means that the curve is not able to accurately account