Depth profiles of soil organic carbon isotopes across a lithosequence: implications for drivers of soil δ 13C vertical changes
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
To addresshow parent materials are affecting organic carbon dynamics in a soil profile, soils from a lithosequence comprising six parent lithologies under a rangeland ecosystem have been explored at three depth intervals for soil organic carbon (SOC) content and its 13C depth trends. Studied parent materials ranged from metamorphic (foliated: FM and non-foliated: NFM) to sedimentary (clastic carbonate: CCS) to plutonic (intermediate: IP, felsic: FP and intermediate felsic: IFP) geological contexts. The relationship between SOC concentration and its isotopic signatures to a depth of 50 cm in FM, NFM, FP and IFP profiles was well described by the kinetic fractionation of SOC during biodegradation. For CCS and IP lithologies, strong divergence from the Rayleigh equation was observed suggesting that the 13C enrichments in these soils resulted from both mixing different SOC pools and isotope fractionation related to the C mineralization. Results suggest that SOC across the lithosequence goes through different isotopic evolutions resulting from different 13C-enriched inputs and pedogenic properties as described by the extended Rayleigh equation (0 ≤ β C≤ 0.80). These are presumably caused by the bedrock lithology implying that parent material affects C storage and dynamics.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies |
Volume | 58 |
Issue number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 159-179 |
ISSN | 1025-6016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- Carbon-13, depth profiles, isotope geochemistry, isotopic evolution, kinetic fractionation, lithology, Rayleigh distillation, soil organic carbon
Research areas
ID: 300452267