Investigating the Effect of Oxidants on the Quantification and Characterization of Charcoal in Two Southeast Australian Sedimentary Records

Author:

Constantine IV Mark1ORCID,Zhu Xiaohong12,Cadd Haidee34ORCID,Mooney Scott1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, Australia

2. School of Geography and Environment, Jiang Xi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

3. Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2033, Australia

4. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia

Abstract

This study examined the effects of commonly used oxidants in sedimentary macroscopic charcoal analysis on two sediment cores from Thirlmere Lakes National Park, Southeast Australia. The cores, from Lake Werri Berri (WB3) and Lake Couridjah (LC2), span ~900 years and 135,000 years, respectively. The Charcoal Accumulation Rate (CHAR) for both charcoal area and count was quantified using four different chemical treatments and compared to a control using only water. We also quantified the Charring Intensity (CI) of isolated charcoal fragments, a proxy for the severity/intensity of fire, determined using the FTIR spectral characteristics of the remaining charcoal after each treatment. We found significant differences in both the area and number of particles across all treatments in both cores. Significantly, we found substantial differences in CI between treatments, with few charcoal particles formed in low-severity fire (e.g., below ~400 °C or 3.0 °C.s.106) in groups treated with an oxidant. In contrast, the control group displayed a wider range of CI values and contained lightly pyrolyzed particles. This suggests that methods using an oxidant to concentrate sedimentary charcoal are potentially biasing records towards high-intensity or -severity fires. We suggest that consideration should be used when choosing laboratory methods based on the hypotheses being tested.

Funder

Australian Research Council

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Safety Research,Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality,Building and Construction,Forestry

Reference45 articles.

1. Landnam i Danmarks stenalder (Land occupation in Denmark’s Stone Age);Iversen;Dan. Geol. Unders.,1941

2. Isotopes in pyrogenic carbon;Bird;Org. Geochem.,2012

3. Charcoal recognition, taphonomy and uses in palaeoenvironmental analysis;Scott;Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol.,2010

4. Novakov, T., Cachier, H., Clark, J.S., Gaudichet, A., Macko, S., and Masclet, P. (1997). Sediment Records of Biomass Burning and Global Change, Springer.

5. Effects on charcoal of pollen preparation procedures;Clark;Pollen et Spores,1984

Cited by 3 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3