Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: There is convincing evidence that soft tissue and other biomolecules have survived from the Mesozoic to the present, possibly because of their interaction with blood iron and/or carbonate adsorption.Here we present the results of investigations showing that ancient biomolecules and their decay products contain significantly higher percent Modern carbon (pMC = 14 C/ 12 C) values than diamond and coal.South African diamonds yielded pMC values of from 0.16 to 0.11 pMC, or ages of 52,000 to 55,000 Carbon-14 years before present ( 14 C years BP) [Baumgardner et al., 2003].Ten coal specimens from the United States from Eocene and Pennsylvanian strata were 0.33 to 0.16 pMC, or 46,000 to 52,000 14 C years BP.By comparison, our field and lab study of ten dinosaurs from Texas to Alaska plus China yielded much higher pMC's of 6.50 to 0.61, or 22,000 to 41,000 14 C years BP after pretreatment to remove old and modern soil contaminants.The evidence for endogenous pMC was further enhanced by the δ 13 C range of -20.1 to -23.8 for collagen, -16.6 to -28.4 for bulk organic, and -3.1 to -9.1 for CO3 fractions.This data clarifies why such biomolecules have persisted.These unexpected results call for replication to determine whether they are anomalous.If not, the implication is that a portion of the geological time scale should be condensed, indicating a higher risk to Earth of meteorite impact due to greater frequency.We recommend systematic 14 C dating of similar samples taken from different parts of the entire geologic column.
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4232389528