Radiocarbon Age of Soil Organic Matter Fractions Buried by Tephra in Alaska

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Cherkinsky ◽  
Kristi Wallace

AbstractRadiocarbon ages were determined on different fractions extracted from buried paleosols in south-central Alaska as an experiment to establish best practices for analysis of low-organic-matter paleosols. Seven samples were collected from directly beneath tephra deposits to determine the eruption frequency of Mount Spurr Volcano, Alaska. Soil development near the volcano is poor due to the high-latitude climate and frequent burial of soil surfaces by tephra. Contamination of soils by local wind-blown material is a concern. The humic acid 14C ages are consistently younger than both the bulk soil and residue after extraction ages. The difference in ages between the humic acid extract and bulk soil range from 60–1130 14C yr BP and 180–4110 14C yr BP, respectively, for residue. Previous observations from dating different soil fractions show that residue ages are typically younger than humic acid extracts presumably because they contain a fraction of younger plant material including roots. We attribute the older ages to contamination by old carbon from eolian charcoal particles. This study supports the use of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating of the humic acid fraction in order to estimate the age of soil that presumably marks the age of burial and avoids suspected contamination by old carbon.

Soil Research ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 655 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Conteh ◽  
G. J. Blair ◽  
I. J. Rochester

The contribution of cotton stubble to the soil organic matter content of Vertisols under cotton production is not well understood. A 3-year experiment was conducted at the Australian Cotton Research Institute to study the effects of burning and incorporating cotton stubble on the recovery of fertiliser nitrogen (N), lint yield, and organic matter levels. This study reports on the changes in soil organic matter fractions as affected by burning and incorporating cotton stubble into the soil. Soil samples collected at the start and end of the 3-year experiment were analysed for total carbon (CT), total N (NT), and δ13C (a measure of 13C/12C isotopic ratios). Labile carbon (CL) was determined by ease of oxidation and non-labile carbon (CNL) was calculated as the difference between CT and CL. Based on the changes in CT, CL, and CNL, a carbon management index (CMI) was calculated. Further analyses were made for total polysaccharides (PT), labile polysaccharides (PL), and light fraction C (LF-C). Stubble management did not significantly affect the NT content of the soil. After 3 years, the stubble-incorporated plots had a significantly higher content of CT, CL, and polysaccharides. Incorporation of stubble into the soil increased the CMI by 41%, whereas burning decreased the CMI by 6%. The amount of LF-C obtained after 3 years in the stubble-incorporated soil was almost double that obtained in the stubble-burnt soil. It was concluded that for sustainable management of soil organic matter in the Vertisols used for cotton production, stubble produced in the system should be incorporated instead of burnt.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1068-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Alberto Ferreira Cardoso ◽  
Augusto Miguel Nascimento Lima ◽  
Tony Jarbas Ferreira Cunha ◽  
Marcos Sales Rodrigues ◽  
Luis Carlos Hernani ◽  
...  

Improper land use has lead to deterioration and depletion of natural resources, as well as a significant decline in agricultural production, due to decreased soil quality. Removal of native vegetation to make way for agricultural crops, often managed inadequately, results in soil disruption, decreased nutrient availability, and decomposition of soil organic matter, making sustainable agricultural production unviable. Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of growing irrigated mango (over a 20 year period) on the organic carbon (OC) stocks and on the fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) in relation to the native caatinga (xeric shrubland) vegetation in the Lower São Francisco Valley region, Brazil. The study was carried out on the Boa Esperança Farm located in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil. In areas under irrigated mango and native caatinga, soil samples were collected at the 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths. After preparing the soil samples, we determined the OC stocks, carbon of humic substances (fulvic acid fractions, humic acid fractions, and humin fractions), and the light and heavy SOM fractions. Growing irrigated mango resulted in higher OC stocks; higher C stocks in the fulvic acid, humic acid, and humin fractions; and higher C stocks in the heavy and light SOM fraction in comparison to nativecaatinga, especially in the uppermost soil layer.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 700 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Manna ◽  
A. Swarup ◽  
R. H. Wanjari ◽  
H. N. Ravankar

Yield decline or stagnation under long-term cultivation and its relationship with soil organic matter fractions are rarely considered. To understand this phenomenon, soil organic matter fractions and soil aggregate size distribution were studied in a long-term experiment at Akola, in a Vertisol in a semiarid tropical environment. For 14 years, the following fertiliser treatments were compared with undisturbed fallow plots: unfertilised (control), 100% recommended rates of N, NP, NPK (N : P : K ratios of 100 : 21.8 : 18.2 and 120 : 26.2 : 50 kg/ha for sorghum and wheat, respectively) and 100% NPK plus farmyard manure (FYM) and continuous cropping with a sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) system during 1988–2001. The significant negative yield trend was observed in unbalanced use of inorganic N application for both crops. However, yields were maintained when NPK and NPK + FYM were applied. Results showed that soil organic C and total N in the unfertilised plot decreased by 21.7 and 18.2%, compared to the initial value, at a depth of 0–15 cm. Depletion of large macroaggregates (>2 mm) accounted for 22–81% of the total mass of aggregates in N, NP and unfertilised control plots compared to fallow plots. Irrespective of treatments, small macroaggregates (0.25–2 mm) dominated aggregate size distribution (56–71%), followed by microaggregates (0.053–0.25 mm, 18–37%). Active fractions, such as microbial biomass C, microbial biomass N, hot water soluble C and N, and acid hydrolysable carbohydrates were greater in NPK and NPK + FYM treatments than in the control. Carbon and N mineralisation were greater in small macroaggregates than microaggregates. Particulate organic matter C (POMC) and N (POMN) were significantly correlated (P < 0.01) with water-stable aggregate C and N (0.25–2 mm size classes), respectively. It was further observed that POMC and POMN were significantly greater in NPK and NPK + FYM plots than N and NP treated plots. Microbial biomass C was positively correlated with acid-hydrolysable carbohydrates (r = 0.79, P < 0.05). Continuous cropping and fertiliser use also influenced humic acid C and fulvic acid C fractions of the soil organic matter. Acid-hydrolysable N proportion in humic acid was greater than fulvic acid and it was greatest in NPK + FYM treatments. Continuous application of 100% NPK + FYM could restore soil organic carbon (SOC) to a new equilibrium level much earlier (t = 1/k, 2.4 years) than N (t = 1/k, 25.7 years), NP (t = 1/k, 8.1 years) and NPK (t = 1/k, 5.02 years). In conclusion, integrated use of NPK with FYM would be vital to obtain sustainable yields without deteriorating soil quality.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1965-1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ricardo da Rocha Campos ◽  
Alexandre Christófaro Silva ◽  
Leandro Lara Vasconcellos ◽  
Daniel Valladão Silva ◽  
Rafael Vitor Romão ◽  
...  

In the region of the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional, peat bog is formed in hydromorphic environments developed in sunken areas on the plain surfaces with vegetation adapted to hydromorphic conditions, favoring the accumulation and preservation of organic matter. This pedoenvironment is developed on the regionally predominant quartzite rocks. Peat bog in the Environmental Protection Area - APA Pau-de-Fruta, located in the watershed of Córrego das Pedras, Diamantina,Brazil, was mapped and three representative profiles were morphologically characterized and sampled for physical, chemical and microbiological analyses. The organic matter was fractionated into fulvic acid (FA), humic acids (HA) and humin (H). Two profiles were sampled to determine the radiocarbon age and δ13C. The structural organization of the three profiles is homogeneous. The first two layers consist of fibric, the two subsequent of hemic and the four deepest of sapric peat, showing that organic matter decomposition advances with depth and that the influence of mineral materials in deeper layers is greater. Physical properties were homogeneous in the profiles, but varied in the sampled layers. Chemical properties were similar in the layers, but the Ca content, sum of bases and base saturation differed between profiles. Contents of H predominated in the more soluble organic matter fractions and were accumulated at a higher rate in the surface and deeper layers, while HA levels were higher in the intermediate and FA in the deeper layers. Microbial activity did not vary among profiles and was highest in the surface layers, decreasing with depth. From the results of radiocarbon dating and isotope analysis, it was inferred that bog formation began about 20 thousand years ago and that the vegetation of the area had not changed significantly since then.


Author(s):  
Futao Zhang ◽  
Yunfa Qiao ◽  
Xiaozeng Han ◽  
Bin Zhang

Cultivating crops influences soil organic matter (SOM), but the effect of different crops remains unclear, particularly under long-term monocropping. The objective of this study was to identify how different crops influence the content and chemical structures of SOM under long-term monocropping. Here, soils were sampled (0–20 cm) under 27-year soybean and maize monocropping and separated into different physical fractions. The content and chemical structures of SOM in all fractions were determined. SOM contents were higher under soybean than maize in bulk soil and macroaggregates and their light-fractions instead of microaggregates and silt and clay. The difference in SOM chemical structure was observed in aggregates and density fractions rather than bulk soils and supported by the result of principal component analysis. The proportion of O-alkyl C in macro- and microaggregates and all free light fractions and that of aromatic C in mineral-associated fractions were higher, while that of carbonyl C was lower under maize than soybean. These results demonstrated that different crops monocropping influences the content and chemical structures of SOM, and the variations were mainly in the light-fraction SOM and highlight a higher sensitivity of physical fractions than bulk soil to different crops.  


Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 437-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Forbes ◽  
Erick Bestland ◽  
Rod Wells

Radiocarbon age determinations and stratigraphy suggest that the deposits in Black Creek Swamp on Kangaroo Island record 3 phases of deposition and associated soil development which spanned at least the last 20,000 yr. Four new 14C age determinations on bulk soil organic matter and their stratigraphic context are presented in this paper. Three of these age determinations (FP6: 15,687 ± 110 BP [WK11487]; FP7: 16,326 ± 385 BP [WK11488]; and FP8: 17,618 ± 447 BP [WK11489]), are from the organic-rich fossil layer located 45–75 cm below the current floodplain surface. The fourth, a much younger date, FP5: 5589 ± 259 BP (WK11486), was obtained from the base of the overlying modern soil. The dates for the fossil layer increase systematically with depth and correlate well with 5 previous 14C dates (Hope et al., unpublished), ranging between 15,040 ± 120 BP and 19,000 ± 310 BP. This suggests that the data set represents a possible minimum age of the bulk organic matter, and considering the high organic matter contents of approximately 8%, has implications for the age of the megafauna buried in this layer. The overlying modern soil, with its much younger date, contains lower levels of organic matter (3–7%) and gastropods not seen in the fossil layer. This suggests a substantial change in environmental conditions probably due to an alteration in the floodplain drainage conditions. This chronological and sedimentalogical discontinuity indicates that 2 distinct depositional regimes existed and were separated by up to 10,000 14C yr. A calcareous, sandy silt deposit underlying the fossil layer is a calcarenite deposit with low total organic content and is considered the base of the section; it suggests a third separate depositional episode. As such, the Black Creek Swamp in the southwest corner of Kangaroo Island formed intermittently over at least the last 20,000 yr during 3 distinct depositional phases, one of which was the formation of the fossil-laden, organic-rich floodplain surface, which has a possible minimum age of approximately 15,000 to 19,000 BP.


1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W. Martin ◽  
William C. Johnson

AbstractRadiocarbon dating of three organic matter fractions (total, humic acid, and residue) isolated from late Quaternary buried soils of the central Great Plains reveals that there often are considerable differences among, but no consistent order to, the ages of fractions. For late Holocene soils, the residue fraction or the total fraction generally produces the oldest age; for late Pleistocene soils, however, no fraction was consistently the oldest. The absence of a consistent sequence of fraction ages is attributed to postburial contamination of soils. When bulk samples from the same soil were split and sent to two laboratories, different radiocarbon ages were usually obtained. The variability in radiocarbon ages of soil organic matter confirms that caution should be taken when using radiocarbon ages obtained from different laboratories to make regional stratigraphic correlations.


2010 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Takács ◽  
Gy. Füleky

The Hot Water Percolation (HWP) technique for preparing soil extracts has several advantages: it is easily carried out, fast, and several parameters can be measured from the same solution. The object of this study was to examine the possible use of HWP extracts for the characterization of soil organic matter. The HPLC-SEC chromatograms, UV-VIS and fluorescence properties of the HWP extracts were studied and the results were compared with those of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) Soil Humic Acid (HA), IHSS Soil Fulvic Acid (FA) and IHSS Suwannee Natural Organic Matter (NOM) standards as well as their HA counterparts isolated by traditional extraction methods from the original soil samples. The DOM of the HWP solution is probably a mixture of organic materials, which have some characteristics similar to the Soil FA fractions and NOM. The HWP extracted organic material can be studied and characterized using simple techniques, like UV-VIS and fluorescence spectroscopy.


2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marietta E. Echeverría ◽  
Daniel Markewitz ◽  
Lawrence A. Morris ◽  
Ronald L. Hendrick

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