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| Titel |
Compound specific radiocarbon analyses to apportion sources of combustion
products in sedimentary pyrogenic carbon deposits |
| VerfasserIn |
Ulrich M. Hanke, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Cameron P. McIntyre, Christopher M. Reddy, Lukas Wacker, Timothy I. Eglinton |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250127211
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-7057.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Pyrogenic carbon (PyC) is a collective term for carbon-rich residues comprised of a
continuum of products generated during biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion. PyC is a
key component of the global carbon cycle due to its slow intrinsic decomposition rate and its
ubiquity in the environment. It can originate from natural or anthropogenic vegetation fires,
coal mining, energy production, industry and transport. Subsequently, PyC can be transported
over long distances by wind and water and can eventually be buried in sediments. Information
about the origin of PyC (biomass burning vs. fossil fuel combustion) deposited in estuarine
sediments is scarce.
We studied the highly anoxic estuarine sediments of the Pettaquamscutt River (Rhode
Island, U.S.) in high temporal resolution over 250 years and found different combustion
proxies reflect local and regional sources of PyC (Hanke et al. in review; Lima et al. 2003).
The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) originate from long-range atmospheric
transport, whereas bulk PyC, detected as benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCA), mainly
stems from local catchment run-off. However, to unambiguously apportion PyC
sources, we need additional information, such as compound specific radiocarbon (14C)
measurements. We report 14C data for individual BPCA including error analysis
and for combustion-related PAH. First results indicate that biomass burning is the
main source of PyC deposits, with additional minor contributions from fossil fuel
combustion.
References
Hanke U.M., T.I. Eglinton, A.L.L. Braun, C. Reddy, D.B. Wiedemeier, M.W.I.
Schmidt. Decoupled sedimentary records of combustion: causes and implications. In
review.
Lima, A. L.; Eglinton, T. I.; Reddy, C. M., High-resolution record of pyrogenic polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon deposition during the 20th century. ES&T, 2003, 37 (1), 53-61. |
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