Depth profiles of soil organic carbon isotopes across a lithosequence: implications for drivers of soil δ13C vertical changes

• Published in: Isotopes in environmental and health studies 2022-05, Vol.58 (2), p.159-179
• Main Authors: Mohammad Tahsin Karimi Nezhad, Bruun, Sander, Magid, Jakob
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; ger ; rus
• Subjects: Bedrock; Biodegradation; Carbon; Carbon 13; Carbon isotopes; Divergence; Fractionation; Isotope fractionation; Isotopes; Lithology; Mineralization; Organic carbon; Organic soils; Rangelands; Rayleigh equations; Soil dynamics; Soil profiles; Soil properties
• ISSN: 1025-6016; 1477-2639
• DOI: 10.1080/10256016.2022.2044806

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 ≤ βC ≤ 0.80). These are presumably caused by the bedrock lithology implying that parent material affects C storage and dynamics.