The marine14C age of the Vedde Ash Bed along the west coast of Norway

Articulated molluscs, sea urchins and barnacle fragments close to the Vedde Ash Bed in a shallow marine deposit on the west coast of Norway have been 14C dated. The weighted mean of four dates from a sediment slice 8 cm thick centred on the Vedde Ash Bed is 10920 ± 24 14C yr BP. The most accurate 14C age of the Vedde Ash from terrestrial plant macrofossils is 10310 ± 50 yr BP. The difference is the 14C reservoir age for coastal water at the west coast of Norway during the mid-Younger Dryas and equals 610 ± 55 yr. This is 230 yr older than the reservoir age for the Bølling/Allerød and for the present day in this area. The result supports earlier conclusions of a higher reservoir age for the Younger Dryas in the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas, although our reservoir age of 610 ± 55 yr is a few hundred years younger. This suggests that the 14C reservoir age at Vedde Ash time may increase from coastal water towards the open North Atlantic and Nordic Seas.