The University of Alaska Fairbanks is set to become the home of the state’s first radiocarbon dating laboratory after federal funding for the project was secured through congressional appropriations.
“Normally researchers in Alaska have to send their samples out of state, so we end up paying more,” said Matthew Wooller, director of UAF’s Stable Isotope Facility. “Being able to do it here means you get more bang for your buck. You get more analysis done with the fixed budgets we have to do research on any particular project.”
The centerpiece of the lab is a nearly 10,000-pound mass spectrometer. The $2.5 million-dollar machine is being built in Switzerland and will later be shipped to Fairbanks where it will be used in the basement of the Usibelli building at UAF.
“A mass spectrometer is a way of counting isotopes,” Wooller said. “Carbon has three isotopes. It has two that are stable and one that is called the radioisotope. That’s C14. That’s the one we are using to radiocarbon date.”
Scientists use radiocarbon dating to determine the age of fossils. Since C14 isotopes decay at a consistent rate over time, they can use those measurements to determine how long ago the animal or plant was alive.
“As soon as we drop dead, C14 is not being renewed anymore and it decays over time,” Wooller said.
One way Wooller said he plans to utilize the lab is through the Museum of the North’s “Adopt a Mammoth’’ project. For the last year, he has been gathering radiocarbon data on the museum’s vast catalog of wooly mammoth fossils.
“We don’t know how old they are,” he said. “We started the ‘Adopt a Mammoth’ project so anybody can adopt a mammoth fossil. They pay the money to get the radiocarbon dating. They don’t get to keep the fossil, but we send them a picture of it.”
Wooller added that those who donate also get to name the fossil.
One of the project’s goals is to find the youngest fossil, Wooller said. That will help scientists determine when exactly the massive animals went extinct. So far, about 100 mammoth fossils have been analyzed.
“Alaska holds some real treasures, some of which are being found on a regular basis,” Wooller said. “Some of the oldest archaeology, some of the most unique fossils — really incredibly preserved because we live in permafrost. Alaska houses all of this, but the true value of those things really only comes alive when you start adding data. And one of the first things to add to any fossil is its age.”
Funding for the new lab comes from a federal budget appropriation courtesy of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
“We are especially grateful to Lisa Murkowski for picking this up and advocating for it,” Wooller said.
Wooller and his colleague Nicole Misarti, director of UAF’s Institute of Northern Engineering, spent years advocating for the new lab.
“We’ll be able to push methodology in a way you can’t do without having the instrument here,” Misarti said in a UAF news release. “Rather than just spitting out radiocarbon dates, we’ll be able to develop new techniques — new ways of prepping samples, for example.”
The laboratory is planned to be up and running within one to two years as the machinery makes its way to Alaska and the room where it will be housed is outfitted with the materials and power supply needed to run such a huge project.
Contact Carter DeJong at 907-459-7545 or cdejong@newsminer.com.
