Mihály Molnár

Hungarian Academy of Sciences | HAS · Environmental Physics Department

The study analyses in situ CO 2 mole fraction, ¹⁴ CO 2 , and fossil based excess CO 2 mole fraction (C foss ) data at Hegyhátsál (HUN) rural monitoring station (Central Europe) supplemented by passive monitoring of ¹⁴ C content of tree-rings. Through the observed period (2014–2020) we focused on revealing trends in atmospheric CO 2 and ¹⁴ C levels,...

In this paper we present new AMS radiocarbon dates from the Bronze Age cemetery of Tiszafüred-Majoroshalom excavated between 1961 and 1972. The cemetery provides crucial information on the cultural development and chronology of the Bronze Age Otomani-Füzesabony and the Tumulus cultures of Eastern Central Europe, in addition to the transition betwee...

An international consortium of radiocarbon laboratories has established the origin of the Church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Kopčany (Slovakia), because its age was not well known from previous investigations. In total, 13 samples of charcoal, wood, mortar, and plaster were analyzed. The ¹⁴ C results obtained from the different laboratories, as w...

Extreme solar energetic particle events, known as Miyake events, are rare phenomena observed by cosmogenic isotopes, with only six documented. The timing of the ca. 660 BCE Miyake event remains undefined until now. Here, we assign its occurrence to 664–663 BCE through new radiocarbon measurements in gymnosperm larch tree rings from arctic-alpine bi...

The loess–paleosol profile of Máza brickyard in SW Hungary was investigated through multivariate analyses of malacofauna and sedimentological analyses. The aim was to reconstruct the complex developmental history of both sediment and malacofauna. Three age–depth models were calculated, and the best-fit model, the OxCal P-sequence, was chosen for fu...

This study, conducted in Debrecen, Hungary, aimed to analyse atmospheric particulate matter (APM or PM) through radiocarbon and PIXE analyses during the winter smog (23–25 January) and spring (15–18 May) seasons. The information presented in this pilot study aims to provide insight into the importance of utilising detailed characteristics of the ma...

Trees and shrubs maintain carbon reserves to support their functions during periods when metabolic demand exceeds carbon supply, such as during the dormant season. To gain a better understanding of carbon storage and utilisation dynamics of eight woody plant species in temperate Central Europe, bud scale and leaf samples were collected to determine...

Biobased content analysis is a well-established, analytically independent, standardized method to determine the biobased content of fuels and plastics, based on differences of the specific radiocarbon (14C) activity of fossil and recent biogenic compounds. This biogenic content analysis can be useful for the producers as a quality assurance tool, f...

Radiocarbon dating is an established method that helps to determine the absolute age of archaeological finds. This topical review presents the basic principles of the radiocarbon method, conventions for selecting samples from archaeological contexts, how to handle samples before sending them to the radiocarbon laboratory, laboratory methods for sam...

In this study we report 21 ancient shotgun genomes from present-day Western Hungary, from previously understudied Late Copper Age Baden, and Bronze Age Somogyvár-Vinkovci, Kisapostag, and Encrusted Pottery archaeological cultures (3530-1620 cal BCE). Our results indicate the presence of high steppe ancestry in the Somogyvár-Vinkovci culture. They w...

A stalagmite was collected in northern Hungary from the Vacska Cave, where monitoring and ventilation-based site selection had been conducted. The stalagmite covers the 10–8 ka (relative to AD 1950) period, including the so-called 8.2 ka event, and showed preceding signs of climate change that were evaluated by petrographic observations, ¹⁴ C activ...

Recent freshwater tufa precipitation and its parent water were investigated at Szalajka valley, Sebesvíz and Dobrica Spring (Bükk Mts., Hungary). The aim of the study is to analyse the carbon isotope dynamics of freshwater tufa precipitated in karstic streams between the spring water and the first significant tufa barrage using field measurements,...

Excavation campaigns conducted at the Pécel‐Kis hársas site (Hungary) between 2014 and 2017 yielded the remains of a mature female woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) and six lithic artefacts. Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the rhinoceros died ca. 20.4k cal a BP, at the very end of the Last Glacial Maximum and, considering the position o...

Bevezetés A Dornyay Béla Múzeumot 2019.07.25-én kereste meg a tulajdonos, Holly Viktor azzal, hogy a Csécse határában fekvő regisztrált régészeti lelőhelyen épülő könnyű-szerkezetű mezőgazdasági csarnokához a régészeti és örökségvédelmi hatóság próba-ásatást írt elő, amelynek a feltárását a múzeumnak kell elvégeznie. 6 A lelőhely Csécse településtő...

The method of determining the biobased carbon content in liquid fuel samples is standardized, but different laboratories use different protocols during sample preparation and perform the measurements using different machines. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) laboratories use different combustion, preparation, and graphitization methods for t...

Despite being the busiest transient sea in the world due to the Suez Canal, radionuclide distribution studies in seawater and sediment of the Red Sea remain rare. A sampling expedition in the Red Sea was conducted from June 9 to July 6, 2021, visiting a transect of several deep sampling stations located along the central axis of the basin from the...

Numerous loess/paleosol sequences (LPS) in the Carpathian Basin span the period of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 and the last glacial maximum (LGM). Nevertheless, only two known records—Madaras and Dunaszekcső—preserve highly resolved records with absolute chronologies with minimal uncertainties, which enable the meaningful assessment of feedbacks a...

Excavation campaigns conducted at the Pécel‐Kis hársas site (Hungary) between 2014 and 2017 yielded the remains of a mature female woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) and six lithic artefacts. Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the rhinoceros died ca. 20.4k cal a BP, at the very end of the Last Glacial Maximum and, considering the position o...

Carbon cycle receives growing attention, in particular in connection with the climate change. Radiocarbon (14C) serves not only as the well-known basis of a dating technique but also as a tracer of the global carbon cycle, enabling one to assess the sizes of diverse compartments, fluxes between them and the related characteristic times. Mathematica...

Elephants are on the verge of extinction due to extensive poaching to obtain ivory and illegal income. According to international law, the trade in ivory of African elephants is outlawed, with a few exceptions, as for example in European Union for antique ivory obtained before 1947. There is basically only one physical method for determining the ag...

The Verlorenvlei catchment on the west coast of South Africa is a semi-arid region that is growing progressively more reliant on groundwater due to increased variability in precipitation and increasing agricultural productivity. The groundwater systems have been put under additional stress given the recent 2015-2017 El Ninõ system that led to droug...

Az Alföld északi részén, a Sajó ármentes teraszán emelkedő, 6 méter magas, régészetileg feltáratlan kettős halom vizsgálata volt a célunk, mivel korábban szinte semmilyen kutatás nem zajlott e halmokkal kapcsolatban. Ha egyenként vizsgáljuk e halmokat, akkor a közepes, átlagos méretű hazai halmok csoportjába tartoznak. Az viszont már egyáltalán nem...

The aim of this study was to estimate and refine the potential sources of carbon in the atmospheric PM2.5 fraction aerosol at three sampling sites in Hungary. Quantification of total, organic and elemental carbon (TC, OC and EC, respectively), as well as radiocarbon (14C) and stable carbon isotope analyses were performed on exposed filters collecte...

A signal of rapid changes in 14 C production is logged in annual series of 14 C derived from tree rings, which can be associated with diverse effects of cosmic-ray fluxes, including solar bursts and supernova events. These 14 C signatures may vary in time and space. The intensity and structure of the 14 C signal are multifaced, which complicates th...

Art objects form an essential part of cultural heritage and are appreciated for their artistic values. However, the observed investment in art and capacity for high monetary returns encourages counterfeiting of art objects. The art market's lack of transparency and traditional confidential protocols amplifies the problem. Radiocarbon analysis provi...

The lack of delimitation between the South American Monsoon System (SAMS) and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has led to problematic calibration of archives in paleoclimate studies, particularly in northern South America. We show for the first time recorded in a paleoclimate archive that the ITCZ is the primary controller of oxygen (δ¹⁸OT...

The most widely used dating techniques in quaternary research are the radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods. In some environments, the investigated sediments do not contain enough material for ¹⁴ C dating. In these cases, ¹⁴ C dating of bulk sediment may be used as a last resort. The major aim of the present...

One of the main concerns of archaeological research into the Neolithic of the Carpathian Basin was the creation of a firm relative chronological sequence, primarily based on ceramics, less frequently on stone tools or other artefact types. As a result of archaeological work, the typological description of the finds and the nature of the interaction...

One of the most influential rulers of the sixteenth century, Sultan Suleyman I, passed away and was buried temporarily near the fortress of Szigetvár in SW Hungary in 1566. Later, a memorial place was erected on the site in the second half of the sixteenth century. The complex was surrounded by a palisade system and a moat on its northern side. The...

Continuous lake sediment archives extending back to the coldest stage of the last glaciation (LGM: last glacial maximum) are particularly rare in the Carpathian basin. Of outstanding value is the crater lake of St. Anne (Sf. Ana / Szent Anna), at the bottom of which lake and mire sediments have accumulated and give us insight into the paleoenvironm...

In the present work, well radiocarbon-dated Quaternary malacological and palynological analyses were implemented on 4 cm samples deriving from one of the thickest and best developed last glacial sequences of Central Europe the Madaras brickyard and the borehole of Kolon Lake in the southern part of Hungary. Using a combination of mollusc, anthracol...

In this paper, we present the time-dependent elemental composition and AMS radiocarbon dating results of 36 rape, sunflower and forest honey samples, collected between 1985 and 2018 in geographically close locations. Based on the elemental information, we conclude that bee products regardless the type provide useful environmental information of the...

Our study shows a one-year-long, monthly integrated continuous monitoring campaign of gaseous radiocarbon emission and ambient air compared with 4 event-like, weekly (168 h) atmospheric aerosol radiocarbon data in every season of 2019, at 4 locations (n = 16 aerosol sample) around the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary. The study shows the first aer...

The 10 m thick Madaras loess–palaeosol profile is one of the Hungarian outcrops that yielded Upper Palaeolithic artefacts in 1966. To clarify the nature of the deposits and establish a reliable litho‐ and chronostratigraphy, a profile was opened and sampled at 25 cm intervals on the northern side of the brickyard in 1975. Analyses focused on grain...

The goal of this paper is to refine the relative and absolute chronology of Epigravettian culture (26.5–15.0 ka) in eastern Central Europe (ECE) and clarify its relation to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent climatic changes. Epigravettian sites were sorted into three chronological clusters: initial LGM (ILGM) (26.5–24.0 ka), local LGM (...

The methane emissions from the Hungarian Pannonian Basin are not well qualified, due to a lack of measurements of CH4 mole fraction and δ¹³CCH4 in the air. This study reports methane measurements in air samples from Hungary, placing them in the context of regional and global background data, to investigate the inputs to the methane burden in Centra...

A laboratory intercomparison project was carried out on 20 annually resolved late-wood samples from the Danish oak record. The project included the following three laboratories: (1) the University of Arizona AMS Laboratory, University of Arizona, USA (AA); (2) HEKAL AMS Laboratory, MTA Atomki, Hungary (DeA); and (3) Aarhus AMS Centre (AARAMS), Aarh...

In this study, we present osteological and strontium isotope data of 29 individuals (26 cremations and 3 inhumations) from Szigetszentmiklós-Ürgehegy, one of the largest Middle Bronze Age cemeteries in Hungary. The site is located in the northern part of the Csepel Island (a few kilometres south of Budapest) and was in use between c. 2150 and 1500...

We measured stable isotopes (δ ¹⁸ O and δ ¹³ C) in Sphagnum cellulose that was extracted from a long peat core drilled in the ombrotrophic Mohos peat bog, Ciomadul Mountain, Romania. The 10-m-long peat profile spans the period from 11,800 cal yr BP to present. The δ ¹⁸ O and δ ¹³ C data indicate there were several cooling events and warm periods in...

An international consortium of radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) laboratories was established to date the origin of the St. George’s Rotunda in Nitrianska Blatnica (Slovakia), because its age was not well established in previous investigations. Altogether, 20 samples of wood, charcoal, mortar and plaster were analyzed. The ¹⁴ C results obtained from the differen...

The application of accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14 C) dating in forensics is made possible by the use of the large excursion of the 14 C concentration in the post-WWII terrestrial atmosphere due to nuclear testing as a reference curve for data calibration. By this approach high-precision analyses are possible on samples younger th...

A coupled accelerator mass spectrometer–gas interface system has been successfully operating at the Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies, Debrecen, Hungary, since 2013. Over the last 6 years more than 500 gas targets were measured below 100 µg carbon content for carbon isotopic composition. The system was tested with blanks, OxII, IAEA-C1...

In this study, PM2.5 aerosol samples collected continuously in Debrecen, Hungary from December 2011 to July 2014 were processed and analysed. Mass concentration and ratios of PM2.5 aerosol, organic and elemental carbon, in addition, radio and stable carbon isotopes were evaluated together to obtain a better sight into the possible local and regiona...

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21647-w

E xcursions in the carbon-14 (14 C) record measured in tree rings are attributed to various high energy but short-lived cosmic effects 1-7. Wang et al. 8 proposed a new event at 3372-3371 BCE based on a single set of annual 14 C data measured on a floating tree rings from a buried specimen of Chinese wingnut (Pterocarya stenoptera). Here we attempt...

An approach, combining several geochemical methods, was used to determine the groundwater properties and components of a hypogene karst system, where sampling is restricted only to the spring sites, and with a limited number of available sampling locations. Radiogenic isotopes (3H, 14C) were used to constrain the groundwater mean residence time and...

Travertine precipitated during the past ca. 120 years, from thermal waters in one of the historical Spas of the Buda Thermal Karst (Hungary) was investigated using radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C). The age of the deposit is based on the historic date of the structure on which the travertine was deposited. A textural study of the travertine buildup using a ~22-c...

Annually resolved radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) measurements on tree rings led to the discovery of abrupt variations in ¹⁴ C production attributed to large solar flares. We present new results of annual and subannual ¹⁴ C fluctuations in tree rings from a middle-latitude sequoia (California) and a high-latitude pine (Finland), analyzed for the period 1030–10...

The western North Pacific is one of the most studied oceanic basins due to its diverse structure and important role in connection with the adjacent reservoirs. Tritium (³H) and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) have been frequently exploited as oceanographic tracers due to their suitable properties; several extensive observation projects, such as GEOSECS, WOCE and...

In order to study radiocarbon levels at a clean air location in Slovakia with no significant local anthropogenic effects, we took tree ring samples from a tree in the vicinity of Jasná recreational area in the Low Tatras region in the central part of Slovakia. There are no significant local fossil fuel emission sources, so these samples represent a...

Our research aims to study the role that cloud cover plays in the pre-montane forest of Mera, located at the Andean eastern flank (1º24'25 S, 78º03'10 W, 1200 m a.s.l) and its coupling with modern climate variations. It is expected that cloud cover will continue moving upwards and narrowing as temperature rises overriding its buffering effect again...

A three-year-long methane mole fraction and d 13 C CH4 measurement campaign was performed at the Hungarian tall tower station, Hegyhátsál, between 2013-2016. The results were compared with that of two NOAA atmospheric monitoring sites Mace Head and Zeppelin to determine the continental methane excess and the relative isotopic shift. The data then w...

Several studies show that the elemental content of honey entirely depends on the botanical and geographical origin, but the information is incomplete regarding its time-dependent composition changes. Twenty-six acacia and three honey samples with unknown botanical origin were collected between 1958 and 2018 and analysed for elemental composition by...

Fine-fraction aerosol samples were collected, and air pollutants and meteorological properties were measured in situ in the regional background environment of the Carpathian Basin, a suburban area and central part of its largest city, Budapest, in each season for a 1-year-long time interval. The samples were analysed for PM2.5 mass, organic carbon...

Excursions in the carbon-14 record measured in tree rings are attributed to various high energy but short-lived cosmic effects. So far, rapid changes at 774-775 CE, 993-994 CE and 660 BCE have been convincingly interpreted as due to rapid changes in solar cosmic-ray flux, usually accredited with reproduction of the events in trees at different loca...

THE BEST POSSIBLE TIME RESOLUTION: HOW PRECISE COULD A RADIOCARBON DATING METHOD BE? – ADDENDUM - I Svetlik, A J T Jull, M Molnár, P P Povinec, T Kolář, P Demján, K Pachnerova Brabcova, V Brychova, D Dreslerová, M Rybníček, P Simek

A Turonian limestone-dolomite aquifer from the Tadla basin of Morocco was analysed using a multi-tracer approach (δ18O, δ2H, δ13C, 3H, 14C and noble gases) to reconstruct the paleotemperature evolution from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene. The Turonian aquifer was found to be suitable for a groundwater-based paleoclimate reconstruction, repres...

The Madaras profile found at the northernmost fringe of Bácska loess plateau is one of the thickest and best-developed last glacial loess sequences of Central Europe. The 10-m profile corresponds to a period between 29 and 12 b2k. To unravel feedback to small-scale centennial climatic fluctuations at our site, recorded in the Greenland ice and Nort...

Atmospheric air samples were collected at 9 monitoring stations (A1 to A9) less than 2 km from the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (Paks NPP) and a background station (B24). The monthly integrated CO2 and total carbon (CO2 +hydrocarbons (CnHm)) samples were collected to determine the excess 14C activity at the vicinity of the NPP. The measurements providi...

Despite many ideas about the age and processes of sand movements and paleosol formation, there are still some uncertainties in this relations in the Nyírség, eastern Hungary. The major aim of the present study was to clarify the chronology of fossil soils and blown-sand layers in the sand dunes of the Nyírség using radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) dating on soi...