Carbon-14 radioactive decay is an isotopic dating method that measures the ratio of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 to determine the relative age at which vegetation or animals die and are buried in sediments. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years making dating methods accurate for roughly the last 30,000 years. Carbon-14 sample concentrations can be measured via accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS), gas proportional counting, and liquid scintillation counting with AMS a more modern and effective method.
Carbon-14 dating can be applied to geomorphology to measure the age of a given sample based upon its concentration of Carbon-14. Most organic compounds and some inorganic compounds can be accurately dated. The length of the Carbon-14 half-life limits its application to vegetation, animal remains, and human artifacts and remains; this also renders it unusable as a method for dating the age of rocks.
Wigley, T. M. L. (1975). Carbon 14 dating of groundwater from closed and open systems. Water Resources Research, 11(2), 324-328.
Application of Carbon-14 dating to estimate the age of groundwater sourced from both closed and open systems. Adjustment methods and reinterpretation of carbonate dissolution models as a framework for determining adjustment factors.
Costin, A.B. (1972). Carbon-14 dates from the Snowy Mountains area, southeastern Australia, and their interpretation. Quaternary Research, 2(4), 579-590.
Dating fossils, woods, peats, and organic soils from the Snowy Mountains area in Southeastern Australia. Periglacial slope deposits indicate a general cooling period around 34-31 thousand years ago that lasted until about 15 thousand years ago. Example of carbon-14 dating to determine the presence of ancient glaciers.