MEASUREMENT OF CO2 EVOLVED FROM ORGANIC SOIL AT DIFFERENT DEPTHS IN SITU

Abstract

A new technique for measuring CO2 evolved from organic soil at different depths in situ was used to monitor CO2 evolution in four experimental sites in southwestern Quebec and in an undisturbed soil column in the laboratory. The technique can be used in conjunction with in situ measurements of surface evolution of CO2, which are used as indicators of total subsidence by oxidation. Subsurface measurements of CO2 evolution provide more detailed estimates of where oxidation is occurring within the profile in organic soils. It also provides a simpler, more direct way of measuring CO2 fluxes below the soil surface than modelling from concentration profiles.