Marine Reservoir Correction

Subtract supplied regional reservoir age plus local delta-R and propagate independent uncertainties; corrected ages can be signed and are not calendar-calibrated ages.

Description

Marine reservoir effects and local delta-R change how a measured radiocarbon age is interpreted.

Marine reservoir effects and local delta-R change how a measured radiocarbon age is interpreted. Subtracting those supplied effects prepares a corrected radiocarbon value, not a calendar-calibrated age.^[1]

Subtract supplied regional reservoir age plus local delta-R and propagate independent uncertainties; corrected ages can be signed and are not calendar-calibrated ages.

When to use Marine Reservoir Correction

Use this tool to subtract supplied regional reservoir age plus local delta-R and propagate independent uncertainties; corrected ages can be signed and are not calendar-calibrated ages.

Prepare the artifact, site or survey measurements and any independently established calibration or model choices. Keep paired observations aligned and confirm units and coordinate conventions.

How to use Marine Reservoir Correction and understand its results

Prepare the artifact, site or survey measurements and any independently established calibration or model choices. Keep paired observations aligned and confirm units and coordinate conventions.
Enter measuredMarineAgeBp, regionalReservoirAgeYears, localDeltaRYears, measurementSigmaYears, reservoirSigmaYears, deltaRSigmaYears using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read reservoirCorrectedAgeBp, independentCombinedSigmaYears. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
measuredMarineAgeBp	Measured marine age bp	number	Required
regionalReservoirAgeYears	Regional reservoir age years	number	Required
localDeltaRYears	Local delta r years	number	Required
measurementSigmaYears	Measurement sigma years	number	Required
reservoirSigmaYears	Reservoir sigma years	number	Required
deltaRSigmaYears	Delta r sigma years	number	Required

Enter finite measured age and signed local delta-R, nonnegative regional reservoir age and nonnegative component sigmas in years. Subtract both corrections and combine independent uncertainty in quadrature. Retain signed corrected ages.

correctedBP = measuredBP−regionalReservoirAge−localDeltaR; sigma = hypot(measurementSigma,reservoirSigma,deltaRSigma)

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
reservoirCorrectedAgeBp	Reservoir corrected age bp	number
independentCombinedSigmaYears	Independent combined sigma years	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "measuredMarineAgeBp": 1000,
    "regionalReservoirAgeYears": 400,
    "localDeltaRYears": -50,
    "measurementSigmaYears": 20,
    "reservoirSigmaYears": 30,
    "deltaRSigmaYears": 10
  },
  "output": {
    "reservoirCorrectedAgeBp": 650,
    "independentCombinedSigmaYears": 37.41657386773941
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Corrections must match the sample and reference convention. Independence is assumed, and no calibration curve, regional lookup or calendar-date probability distribution is applied.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Calibrated Age Intercept Range: Intersect a measured radiocarbon uncertainty band with a supplied piecewise-linear calibration curve, retaining disjoint intervals; not Bayesian calibration, curve uncertainty or an embedded IntCal lookup. For a complementary task, use OSL Age: Infer residual-corrected OSL age with independent dose/rate uncertainties, retaining signed residual nondetections; assumes full resetting and constant effective dose rate, not a validated burial age.

References

Marine Reservoir Correction — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Calibrated Age Intercept Range
Intersect a measured radiocarbon uncertainty band with a supplied piecewise-linear calibration curve, retaining disjoint intervals; not Bayesian calibration, curve uncertainty or an embedded IntCal lookup.
OSL Age
Infer residual-corrected OSL age with independent dose/rate uncertainties, retaining signed residual nondetections; assumes full resetting and constant effective dose rate, not a validated burial age.