Compound-specific 13C and 14C measurements improve the understanding of soil organic matter dynamics

Mendez-Millan, Mercedes; Tu, Thanh Thuy Nguyen; Balesdent, Jérôme; Derenne, Sylvie; Derrien, Delphine; Egasse, Céline; M’Bou, Armel Thongo; Zeller, Bernd; Hatté, Christine

doi:10.1007/s10533-013-9920-7

Cited by 38 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 92 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For bone samples, the collagen was extracted applying an improved version of the Longin method (33) before dating at the Groningen Radiocarbon Laboratory. Very small samples were analyzed using mass-dependent "blank" values (34)(35)(36)(37)(38). The lower the mass of the sample, the larger the 14 C age uncertainty, up to 3 ka for samples containing less than 0.1 mg of carbon.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France

Quilès

Valladas

Bocherens

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Radiocarbon dates for the ancient drawings in the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave revealed ages much older than expected. These early ages and nature of this Paleolithic art make this United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) site indisputably unique. A large, multidisciplinary dating program has recently mapped the anthropological evolution associated with the cave. More than 350 dates (by 14 C, U-Th, TL and 36 Cl) were obtained over the last 15 y. They include 259 radiocarbon dates, mainly related to the rock art and human activity in the cave. We present here more than 80 previously unpublished dates. All of the dates were integrated into a high-precision Bayesian model based on archaeological evidence to securely reconstruct the complete history of the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave on an absolute timescale. It shows that there were two distinct periods of human activity in the cave, one from 37 to 33,500 y ago, and the other from 31 to 28,000 y ago. Cave bears also took refuge in the cave until 33,000 y ago. . Based on stylistic considerations, this art was first attributed to the Solutrean period (∼22,000-18,000 B.P.). Surprisingly, however, the first 14 C dates of black drawings (the only depictions datable by this method) indicated a much older age (∼32,000-30,000 B.P.) (6-9). These dates had a significant impact on commonly accepted theories of the evolution of prehistoric art (10) and thus emphasized the need to obtain a thorough understanding of the occupation history of the cave. A clear chronological framework would reveal the age not only of the art, but also of the periods of human and animal occupation and their relationship to the geomorphological evolution of the cave.Chronologies can be relative or absolute. In this context, relative dating refers to the ordering of the art works and natural or animal related events within a relative temporal sequence, commonly based on patterns of superimposition of the different occurrences: for example, a painting that is overlain by another in a "stratigraphic sequence" is the oldest of the two, and a bear scratch on top of a drawing indicates that humans no longer occupied the cave when the scratch was made. Based on this information alone, however, we do not know how much older the underlying event is: thus the need to obtain absolute dates of parietal art works.In the chronology presented here, we use all of the absolute dates obtained from the art works, as well as other data associated with the parietal art, and animal and human occupations. Our earlier sampling methods and 14 C methodology were criticized (11-13). Before publishing further rock art dating results, we therefore initiated a broad, international intercomparison program of 14 C dating, followed by a holistic chronological model based on an extensive corpus of dates obtained by several different methods.A set of 259 radiocarbon dates is currently available (Fig. 1 and SI Appendix, Fig. S1 and Table S1). They were compiled over the last 15 y and include analyses performed ...

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France

Quilès

Valladas

Bocherens

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The soil bulk density (BD) had not been measured in two papers (Wang et al ., ; Mendez‐Millan et al ., ); we estimated them based on the following empirical relationships between SOM concentration and BD (Post & Kwon, ):

BD = \frac{100}{\frac{% OM}{0.244} + \frac{100 - % OM}{MBD}}

where OM is organic matter and MBD is mineral bulk density (used a typical value of 1.64) (Post & Kwon, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon dynamics following land‐use change varied with temperature and precipitation gradients: evidence from stable isotopes

Zhang

Dang

Zhang

et al. 2015

Global Change Biology

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Knowledge of soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics following deforestation or reforestation is essential for evaluating carbon (C) budgets and cycle at regional or global scales. Worldwide land-use changes involving conversion of vegetation with different photosynthetic pathways (e.g. C and C ) offer a unique opportunity to quantify SOM decomposition rate and its response to climatic conditions using stable isotope techniques. We synthesized the results from 131 sites (including 87 deforestation observations and 44 reforestation observations) which were compiled from 36 published papers in the literatures as well as our observations in China's Qinling Mountains. Based on the C natural abundance analysis, we evaluated the dynamics of new and old C in top soil (0-20 cm) following land-use change and analyzed the relationships between soil organic C (SOC) decomposition rates and climatic factors. We found that SOC decomposition rates increased significantly with mean annual temperature and precipitation in the reforestation sites, and they were not related to any climatic factor in deforestation sites. The mean annual temperature explained 56% of variation in SOC decomposition rates by exponential model (y = 0.0014e ) in the reforestation sites. The proportion of new soil C increased following deforestation and reforestation, whereas the old soil C showed an opposite trend. The proportion of new soil C exceeded the proportion of old soil C after 45.4 years' reforestation and 43.4 years' deforestation, respectively. The rates of new soil C accumulation increased significantly with mean annual precipitation and temperature in the reforestation sites, yet only significantly increased with mean annual precipitation in the deforestation sites. Overall, our study provides evidence that SOC decomposition rates vary with temperature and precipitation, and thereby implies that global warming may accelerate SOM decomposition.

show abstract

“…In soil organic matter studies, the natural 13 C‐labelling technique commonly uses the natural difference in δ 13 C values between C 3 and C 4 plants . To assess the difference in the isotopic composition of specific compounds between C 3 and C 4 plant material, we used leaf samples (eucalyptus falling leaves and aerial parts of savanna) in a savanna‐forest sequence (Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo) …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The determination of the 13 C composition of AAs was tested on five biological materials. To establish the difference in the composition of specific compounds between C 3 and C 4 plants, we used: (i) as C 3 plant Eucalyptus falling leaves from a plantation in the Republic of the Congo and (ii) a mix of C 4 poaceae from a nearby savanna . To assess the isotope uniformity of labelled plant material, we used (iii) 13 C‐labeled European beech leaves (AT 13 C = 2.44 ± 0.01%): beech leaves ( Fagus sylvatica ) of 10‐year‐old trees enriched in 13 C by continuous labelling with 13 CO 2 for 4 weeks and ‘pulse labelling’ for 3 months in a plant growth chamber were collected, dried and finely ground to be analyzed; and (iv) 13 C‐labeled wheat ( Triticum aestivum ) straw (AT 13 C = 11.09%) grown in growth chambers under 13 C‐enriched CO 2 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Labelled microbial culture as a calibration medium for ¹³C‐isotope measurement of derivatized compounds: application to tert‐butyldimethylsilyl amino acids

Kheirbeik

Hatté

Balesdent

2016

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Compound-specific 13C and 14C measurements improve the understanding of soil organic matter dynamics

Cited by 38 publications

References 92 publications

A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France

A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France

Soil carbon dynamics following land‐use change varied with temperature and precipitation gradients: evidence from stable isotopes

Labelled microbial culture as a calibration medium for ¹³C‐isotope measurement of derivatized compounds: application to tert‐butyldimethylsilyl amino acids

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Compound-specific 13C and 14C measurements improve the understanding of soil organic matter dynamics

Cited by 38 publications

References 92 publications

A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France

A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France

Soil carbon dynamics following land‐use change varied with temperature and precipitation gradients: evidence from stable isotopes

Labelled microbial culture as a calibration medium for 13C‐isotope measurement of derivatized compounds: application to tert‐butyldimethylsilyl amino acids

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Labelled microbial culture as a calibration medium for ¹³C‐isotope measurement of derivatized compounds: application to tert‐butyldimethylsilyl amino acids