14C age anomalies in modern land snails shell carbonate from Southern Italy

A systematic study was carried out by performing Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating on the shells of terrestrial gastropods sampled alive in different geomorphological settings along the Adriatic and Ionian coasts of Southern Italy. The results show significant anomalies in the radiocarbon content and in the carbon stable isotopic ratio. This can be due to the ingestion of 14C-depleted calcium carbonate in the diet of these organisms. We also calculated the carbon fraction from air Xa (between 16% and 48%), plants Xv (between 36% and 73%) and limestone Xc (between 3% and 23%) giving insight to the origin of the age anomalies.