Estimating mineral surface area and base cation weathering rates of Spodosols under forest in British Columbia, Canada

AbstractWe consider a macroscale model of transport and reaction of chemical species in a porous medium with a special focus on mineral precipitation–dissolution processes. In the literature, it is frequently proposed that the reaction rate should depend on the reactive mineral surface area, and so on the amount of mineral. We point out that a frequently used model is ill posed in the sense that it admits non-unique solutions. We investigate what consequences this non-uniqueness has on the numerical solution of the model. The main novelty in this article is our proposal of a certain substitution which removes the ill-posedness from the system and which leads to better numerical results than some “ad hoc methods.” We think that the proposed substitution is a rather elegant way to get rid of the non-uniqueness and the numerical difficulties and is much less technical than other ideas. As a proof of concept, we present some numerical tests and simulations for the new model.

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The role of clay content and mineral surface area for soil organic carbon storage in an arable toposequence

Biogeochemistry ◽

10.1007/s10533-021-00850-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Steffen A. Schweizer ◽

Carsten W. Mueller ◽

Carmen Höschen ◽

Pavel Ivanov ◽

Ingrid Kögel-Knabner

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Surface Area ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Mineral Soil ◽

Clay Content ◽

Clay Soils ◽

Mineral Surface ◽

Mineral Surface Area ◽

The Impact

AbstractCorrelations between organic carbon (OC) and fine mineral particles corroborate the important role of the abundance of soil minerals with reactive surfaces to bind and increase the persistence of organic matter (OM). The storage of OM broadly consists of particulate and mineral-associated forms. Correlative studies on the impact of fine mineral soil particles on OM storage mostly combined data from differing sites potentially confounded by other environmental factors. Here, we analyzed OM storage in a soil clay content gradient of 5–37% with similar farm management and mineral composition. Throughout the clay gradient, soils contained 14 mg OC g−1 on average in the bulk soil without showing any systematic increase. Density fractionation revealed that a greater proportion of OC was stored as occluded particulate OM in the high clay soils (18–37% clay). In low clay soils (5–18% clay), the fine mineral-associated fractions had up to two times higher OC contents than high clay soils. Specific surface area measurements revealed that more mineral-associated OM was related to higher OC loading. This suggests that there is a potentially thicker accrual of more OM at the same mineral surface area within fine fractions of the low clay soils. With increasing clay content, OM storage forms contained more particulate OC and mineral-associated OC with a lower surface loading. This implies that fine mineral-associated OC storage in the studied agricultural soils was driven by thicker accrual of OM and decoupled from clay content limitations.

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Organomineral nanocomposite carbon burial during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-11-6815-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 6815-6844

Author(s):

S. C. Löhr ◽

M. J. Kennedy

Keyword(s):

Surface Area ◽

High Surface ◽

High Surface Area ◽

Mineral Surfaces ◽

Mineral Surface ◽

X Ray ◽

Oceanic Anoxic Event ◽

Carbon Burial ◽

Anoxic Events ◽

Mineral Surface Area

Abstract. Organic carbon (OC) enrichment in sediments deposited during Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs) is commonly attributed to elevated productivity and marine anoxia. We find that OC enrichment in the late Cenomanian aged OAE2 at Demerara Rise was controlled by co-occurrence of anoxic bottom-water, sufficient productivity to saturate available mineral surfaces and variable deposition of high surface area detrital smectite clay. Redox indicators show consistently oxygen-depleted conditions, while a strong correlation between OC concentration and sediment mineral surface area (R2=0.92) occurs across a range of TOC values from 9–33%. X-ray diffraction data indicates intercalation of OC in smectite interlayers while electron, synchrotron infrared and X-ray microscopy show an intimate association between clay minerals and OC, consistent with preservation of OC as organomineral nanocomposites and aggregates rather than discrete, μm-scale pelagic detritus. Since the consistent ratio between TOC and mineral surface area suggests that excess OC relative to surface area is lost, we propose that it is the varying supply of smectite that best explains variable organic enrichment against a backdrop of continuous anoxia, which is conducive to generally high TOC during OAE2 at Demerara Rise. Smectitic clays are unique in their ability to form stable organomineral nanocomposites and aggregates that preserve organic matter, and are common weathering products of continental volcanic deposits. An increased flux of smectite coinciding with high carbon burial is consistent with evidence for widespread volcanism during OAE2, so that organomineral carbon burial may represent a potential feedback to volcanic degassing of CO2.

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