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1. Thermal oxidation of carbon in organic matter rich volcanic soils: insights into SOC age differentiation and mineral stabilization

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-019-00586-1  

   Grant, Katherine E. ; Galy, Valier V. ; Chadwick, Oliver A. ; Derry, Louis A. ( August 2019 , Biogeochemistry)

   Radiocarbon ages and thermal stability measurements can be used to estimate the stability of soil organic carbon (OC). Soil OC is a complex reservoir that contains a range of compounds with different sources, reactivities, and residence times. This heterogeneity can shift bulk radiocarbon values and impact assessment of OC stability and turnover in soils. Four soil horizons (Oa, Bhs, Bs, Bg) were sampled from highly weathered 350 ka Pololu basaltic volcanics on the Island of Hawaii and analyzed by Ramped PyrOX (RPO) in both the pyrolysis (PY) and oxidation (OX) modes to separate a complex mixture of OC into thermally defined fractions. Fractions were characterized for carbon stable isotope and radiocarbon composition. PY and OX modes yielded similar results. Bulk radiocarbon measurements were modern in the Oa horizon (Fm = 1.013) and got progressively older with depth: the Bg horizon had an Fm value of 0.73. Activation energy distributions (p(E)) calculated using the ‘rampedpyrox’ model yielded consistent mean E values of 140 kJ mol-1 below the Oa horizon. The ‘rampedpyrox’ model outputs showed a mostly bimodal distribution in the p(E) below the Oa, with a primary peak at 135 kJ mol-1 and a secondary peak at 148 kJ mol-1, while the Oa was dominated by a single, higher E peak at 157 kJ mol-1. We suggest that mineral-carbon interaction, either through mineral surface-OC or metal-OC interactions, is the stabilization mechanism contributing to the observed mean E of 140 kJ mol-1 below the Oa horizon. In the Oa horizon, within individual RPO analyses, radiocarbon ages in the individual thermal fractions were indistinguishable (p[0.1). The flat age distributions indicate there is no relationship between age and thermal stability (E) in the upper horizon ([25 cm). Deeper in the soil profile higher lEf values were associated with older radiocarbon ages, with slopes progressively steepening with depth. In the deepest (Bg) horizon, there was the largest, yet modest change in Fm of 0.06 (626 radiocarbon years), indicating that older OC is slightly more thermally stable. 

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2. Grain size records from Bering Sea core sites U1345, U1343, and U1339 during Marine Isotope Stage 11 (424-374 thousand years ago).

   https://doi.org/10.18739/A2H12V839  

   Thompson, Natalie ; Caissie, Beth ( January 2021 , NSF Arctic Data Center)

   This dataset contains grain size records from three Integrated Ocean Drilling Program core sites (U1345, U1343, and U1339) in the Bering Sea. These records are used to determine the effectiveness of different grain size parameters as proxies for sediment transport, current strength, and primary productivity in the Bering Sea during a past warm interval (Marine Isotope Stage 11, 424-374 thousand years ago (ka)). Grain size is measured using a laser diffraction particle size analyzer (Malvern Mastersizer 3000), and is reported for bulk sediments, and for the terrigenous fraction only. The raw dataset provided by the Malvern software includes the volume % of grains in 109 bin sizes, as well as the 10th (Dx10), 50th (Dx50) and 90th (Dx90) percentiles. We also provide the volume distribution of grains in the following size fractions: clay (less than 2 micrometers (μm)); silt (2-63 μm); sand (63-2000 μm); gravel (greater than 2000 μm); ice-rafted debris (greater than 150 μm; greater than 250 μm), and sortable silt (10-63 μm). Additional grain size parameters, including mean size, sorting and skewness, are calculated in GRADISTAT. 

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3. Distinct Modes of Aged Soil Carbon Export in a Large Tropical Lake Basin Identified Using Bulk and Compound‐Specific Radiocarbon Analyses of Fluvial and Lacustrine Sediment

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007515  

   Parker, Wesley G. ; Ahad, Jason M. E. ; Obrist‐Farner, Jonathan ; Keenan, Benjamin ; Douglas, Peter M. J. ( August 2023 , Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences)

   The¹⁴C content of sedimentary organic matter (OM) and specific organic molecules provide valuable information on the source and age of OM stored in sediments, but these data are limited for tropical fluvial and lake sediments. We analyzed¹⁴C in bulk OM, palmitic acid (C₁₆), and long‐chainn‐alkanoic acids (C₂₄, C₂₆, and C₂₈), within fluvial and lake sediments in the catchment of Lake Izabal, a large tectonic lake basin in Guatemala. We combined these measurements with bulk and compound‐specific δ¹³C measurements, as well as sediment organic carbon to nitrogen (OC:N) ratios, to understand the source and age of sedimentary OM in different regions of the lake catchment. Most fatty acid and bulk OM samples were characterized by pre‐modern carbon, indicating important input of aged carbon with residence times of hundreds to thousands of years into sediments. We identified two mechanisms leading to aged carbon export to sediments. In the high‐relief and deforested Polochic catchment, older OM and fatty acids are associated with low % total organic carbon (TOC) and low OC:N, indicating aged OM associated with eroded mineral soil. In the smaller, low‐relief, and largely forested Oscuro catchment, old OM and fatty acids are associated with high %TOC and high OC:N ratios, indicating export of undegraded aged plant biomass from swamp peat. The age of bulk OM and fatty acids in Lake Izabal sediments is similar to the ages observed in fluvial sediments, implying that fluvial input of aged soil carbon makes an important contribution to lake sediment carbon reservoirs in this large tropical lake.

    

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4. Biologically agglutinated eukaryotic microfossil from Cryogenian cap carbonates

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12225  

   Moore, K. R. ; Bosak, T. ; Macdonald, F. A. ; Lahr, D. J. G. ; Newman, S. ; Settens, C. ; Pruss, S. B. ( January 2017 , Geobiology)

   Cryogenian cap carbonates that overlie Sturtian glacial deposits were formed during a post‐glacial transgression. Here, we describe microfossils from the Kakontwe Formation of Zambia and the Taishir Formation of Mongolia—both Cryogenian age, post‐Sturtian cap carbonates—and investigate processes involved in their formation and preservation. We compare microfossils from these two localities to an assemblage of well‐documented microfossils previously described in the post‐Sturtian Rasthof Formation of Namibia. Microfossils from both new localities have 10 ± 1 μm‐thick walls composed of carbonaceous matter and aluminosilicate minerals. Those found in the Kakontwe Formation are spherical or ovoid and 90 ± 5 μm to 200 ± 5 μm wide. Structures found in the Taishir Formation are mostly spherical, 50 ± 5 μm to 140 ± 5 μm wide, with distinct features such as blunt or concave edges. Chemical and mineralogical analyses show that the walled structures and the clay fraction extracted from the surrounding sediments are composed of clay minerals, especially muscovite and illite, as well as quartz, iron and titanium oxides, and some dolomite and feldspar. At each locality, the mineralogy of the microfossil walls matched that of the clay fractions of the surrounding sediment. The abundance of these minerals in the walled microfossils relative to the surrounding carbonate matrix and microbial laminae, and the presence of minerals that cannot precipitate from solution (titanium oxide and feldspar), suggests that the composition represents the original mineralogy of the structures. Furthermore, the consistency in mineralogy of both microfossils and sediments across the three basins, and the uniformity of size and shape among mineral grains in the fossil walls indicate that these organisms incorporated these minerals by primary biological agglutination. The discovery of new, mineral‐rich microfossil assemblages in microbially laminated and other fine‐grained facies of Cryogenian cap carbonates from multiple localities on different palaeocontinents demonstrates that agglutinating eukaryotes were widespread in carbonate‐dominated marine environments in the aftermath of the Sturtian glaciation.

    

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5. Evaluating the paleoenvironmental significance of sediment grain size in Bering Sea sediments during Marine Isotope Stage 11

   Thompson, N. ; Caissie, B.E ( January 2022 , Stratigraphy)

   Grain size is an important textural property of sediments and is widely used in paleoenvironmental studies as a means to infer changes in the sedimentary environment. However, grain size parameters are not always easy to interpret without a full understanding of the factors that influence grain size. Here, we measure grain size in sediment cores from the Bering slope and the Umnak Plateau, and review the effectiveness of different grain size parameters as proxies for sediment transport, current strength, and primary productivity, during a past warm interval (Marine Isotope Stage 11, 424-374 ka). In general, sediments in the Bering Sea are hemipelagic, making them ideal deposits for paleoenvironmental reconstructions, but there is strong evidence in the grain size distribution for contourite deposits between ~408-400 ka at the slope sites, suggesting a change in bottom current transport at this time.We show that the grain size of coarse (>150 μm) terrigenous sediment can be used effectively as a proxy for ice rafting, although it is not possible to distinguish between iceberg and sea ice rafting processes, based on grain size alone.We find that the mean grain size of bulk sediments can be used to infer changes in productivity on glacial-interglacial timescales, but the size and preservation of diatom valves also exert a control on mean grain size. Lastly, we show that the mean size of sortable silt (10-63 μm) is not a valid proxy for bottom current strength in the Bering Sea, because the input of ice-rafted silt confounds the sortable silt signal. 

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