Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T07:13:17.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pyrolysis-combustion 14C dating of soil organic matter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hong Wang ,
Keith C. Hackley ,
Samuel V. Panno ,
Dennis D. Coleman ,
Jack Chao-li Liu  and
Johnie Brown
Hong Wang*
Affiliation:
Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
Keith C. Hackley
Affiliation:
Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
Samuel V. Panno
Affiliation:
Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
Dennis D. Coleman
Affiliation:
Isotech Laboratories, Inc., Champaign, IL 61821, USA
Jack Chao-li Liu
Affiliation:
Isotech Laboratories, Inc., Champaign, IL 61821, USA
Johnie Brown
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
*
*Corresponding author.E-mail address:[email protected] (H. Wang).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Radiocarbon (14C) dating of total soil organic matter (SOM) often yields results inconsistent with the stratigraphic sequence. The onerous chemical extractions for SOM fractions do not always produce satisfactory 14C dates. In an effort to develop an alternative method, the pyrolysis-combustion technique was investigated to partition SOM into pyrolysis volatile (Py-V) and pyrolysis residue (Py-R) fractions. The Py-V fractions obtained from a thick glacigenic loess succession in Illinois yielded 14C dates much younger but more reasonable than the counterpart Py-R fractions for the soil residence time. Carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) was heavier in the Py-V fractions, suggesting a greater abundance of carbohydrate- and protein-related constituents, and δ13C was lighter in the Py-R fractions, suggesting more lignin- and lipid-related constituents. The combination of 14C dates and δ13C values indicates that the Py-V fractions are less biodegradation resistant and the Py-R fractions are more biodegradation resistant. The pyrolysis-combustion method provides a less cumbersome approach for 14C dating of SOM fractions. With further study, this method may become a useful tool for analyzing unlithified terrestrial sediments when macrofossils are absent.

Keywords

14C dating of soil organic matterPyrolysis combustionδ13C of soil organic matter fractionsLoessLast glaciationMidcontinent
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , November 2003 , pp. 348 - 355
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, M.B., Stafford, T.W. Jr. Radiocarbon geochemistry of modern and ancient Arctic lake systems, Baffin island, Canada. Quaternary Research 45, (1996). 300–311.Google Scholar
Anderson, D., and Paul, E.A., (1984). Organo-mineral complexes and their study by radiocarbon dating. Soil Science Society of America Journal 48, 198–201.Google Scholar
Campbell, C.A., Paul, E.A., Rennie, D.A., and McCallum, K.J., (1967). Factors affecting the accuracy of the carbon dating method of analysis to soil humus studies. Soil Science 104, 81–84.Google Scholar
Cherkinsky, A.E., and Brovkin, V.A., (1991). A model of humus formation in soils based on radiocarbon data of natural ecosystems. International Radiocarbon Conference, Tucson. Radiocarbon 33, 186–187.Google Scholar
Coleman, D.D., Liu, C.L., Dickerson, D.R., Frost, R.R., (1972). Improvement in trimerization of acetylene to benzene for radiocarbon dating with a commercially available vanadium oxide catalyst. in: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Radiocarbon Dating, Wellington, New Zealand., pp. B50–B62.Google Scholar
Deines, P., (1980). The isotopic composition of reduced organic carbon. Fritz, P., Fontes, J.C. Handbook of Environmental Geochemistry Vol. 1, Elsevier, New York. 236–406.Google Scholar
Follett, R.F., Paul, E.A., Leavitt, S.W., Halvorson, A.D., Lyon, D., and Peterson, G.W., (1997). Carbon isotope ratios of Great Plains soils and in wheat–fallow systems. Soil Science Society of America Journal 61, 1068–1077.Google Scholar
Gilet-Blein, N., Marien, G., and Evin, J., (1980). Unreliability of 14C dates from organic matter of soils. Radiocarbon 22, 919–929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Y.S., Li, B.C., Bryant, C., Bol, R., and Eglinton, G., (1999). Radiocarbon dating of aliphatic hydrocarbons. a new approach for dating passive-fraction carbon in soil horizons. Soil Science Society of America Journal 63, 1181–1187.Google Scholar
Lu, X.Q., Hanna, J.V., and Johnson, W.D., (2000). Source indicators of humic substances. an elemental composition, solid state 13C CP/MAS NMR and Py-GC/MS study. Applied Geochemistry 15, 1019–1033.Google Scholar
Martel, Y.A., and Paul, E.A., (1974). The use of radiocarbon dating of organic matter in the study of soil genesis. Soil Science Society of America Journal 38, 501–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, C.W., and Johnson, W.C., (1995). Variation in radiocarbon ages of soil organic matter fractions from late Quaternary buried soils. Quaternary Research 43, 232–3237.Google Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Aleinikoff, J.H., Stafford, T.W. Jr., Kihl, R., Been, J., Mahan, S.A., and Cowherd, S., (1999). Late Quaternary loess in northeastern Colorado, Part I, Age and paleoclimatic significance. Geological Society of America Bulletin 111, 1861–1875.Google Scholar
Noakes, J.E., Kim, S.M., and Akers, L.K., (1967). Recent improvements in benzene chemistry for radiocarbon dating. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 31, 1094–1096.Google Scholar
Noakes, J.E., Kim, S.M., Stipp, J.J., (1965). Chemical and counting advances in liquid scintillation radiocarbon dating. in: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Radiocarbon and Tritium Dating, Pullman, WA., Conf. 650652, pp. 68–98.Google Scholar
Paul, E.A., Follett, R.F., Leavitt, S.W., Halvorson, A., Peterson, G.A., and Lyon, D.J., (1997). Radiocarbon dating for determination of soil organic matter pool sizes and dynamics. Soil Science Society of America Journal 61, 1058–1067.Google Scholar
Perrin, R.M.S., Willis, E.H., and Hodge, D.A.H., (1964). Dating of humus podzols by residual radiocarbon activity. Nature 202, 165–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpenseel, H.W., (1976). Soil fraction dating. Berger, R., and Suess, H.E. Radiocarbon Dating. University of California Press, Berkeley. 277–283.Google Scholar
Wang, H., Follmer, L.R., and Liu, C.L.J., (2000). Isotope evidence of paleo-ENSO cycles in the loess–paleosol record in the central USA. Geology 28, 771–774.Google Scholar
Wang, H., Hughes, R.E., Steele, J.D., Lepley, S.W., and Tian, J., (2003). Correlation of climate cycles in middle Mississippi valley loess and Greenland ice. Geology 31, 179–182.Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Amundson, R., and Trumbore, S., (1996). Radiocarbon dating of soil organic matter. Quaternary Research 45, 282–288.Google Scholar