Fossil Fuel Emissions Alter Carbon Isotopes, Challenging Archaeologists to Conduct Carbon Dating

Carbon dating technology is at risk amid the rising alteration of carbon isotopes in the air caused by fossil fuel emissions.

This is according to scientists, who claimed archaeologists may need to rely on alternative techniques of looking back in time or determining the age of a particular object.

The scientists asserted that such alteration could yield to inaccuracy when it comes to finding out the actual age of an object.

For decades, the carbon dating technique has been used as a so-called "time machine" or "time travel" mechanism in identifying how old not only an object but also fossils discovered on Earth.

The human-caused emissions have been attributed recurrently for its contribution to climate change and global warming.

Currently, the same gases from various industrial sectors are being blamed for hampering the carbon dating method; which is not only used by archaeologists, but also by anthropologists, archaeologists, geologists, and investigators concerning Earth science and other fields.

Carbon Dating Technology Threatened

As of 2021, the burning of fossil fuels has shifted the composition of carbon isotopes in the Northern Hemisphere, according to an article published on Nature on Wednesday, July 27.

This is reportedly based on a landmark moment by researchers who were tracking the ever-rising atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The article's claim is generally supported by researchers from various educational institutions, including the Imperial College London, Queen's University Belfast, University of Vienna, and Columbia University in New York City.

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, humans have increased the rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 45%, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Greenhouse gases like ozone and nitrous oxide are relatively short-lived in the atmosphere.

However, NASA pointed out that carbon dioxide is a "different animal" since it can stay on the skies for a long time, approximately between 300 to 1,000 years.

What is Carbon Dating?

Carbon is a chemical element and acts as one of the building blocks of biochemical molecules for and is the basis of carbon dating, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

The WHOI specifies that carbon dating is like finding a time stamp of a particular matter, calculated by determining the amount of carbon isotopes left on it.

As time passes by, these particles also decay to the point where the technique could no longer identify it.

Fossil Fuel Emissions

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that human activities are responsible for most increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere for the past 150 years.

In the US, the agency reports that the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions comes from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.

Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas originate from decomposing animals and plants.