Disappearance and alteration process of charcoal fragments in cumulative soils studied using Raman spectroscopy

Inoue, Jun; Yoshie, Ayaka; Tanaka, Takeshi; Onji, Takeshi; Inoue, Yohtaro

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.09.032

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…; Inoue et al . ) and/or the fragile nature of distorted and fractured cell walls may simply be fragmented into sub‐cellular particles that are challenging to identify in the fossil record.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of the structural changes that occur during charcoalification: implications for identifying charcoal in the fossil record

Hudspith

Belcher

2017

Palaeontology

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All of our current understanding of fossil charcoal structure comes from observations of modern wood charcoal produced in furnaces. These charcoals consistently show cell wall homogenization after prolonged heating (>325°C) and this is therefore considered to be a key identifying feature of fossil charcoal. Yet furnaces are unable to replicate the full combustion processes that occur during a wildfire. Here, for the first time, we have studied the microscopic structural evolution of charcoal produced using calorimetry, wherein the wood is ignited under controlled conditions and the heat release rate and other parameters measured, and the resulting charcoal studied using reflected light microscopy. We show that homogenization of cell walls is actually only a short-lived phase of charcoal formation that occurs during the early heating stages as the pyrolysis front traverses through the wood. Cell wall homogenization is then rapidly overprinted by the thinning, distortion and breakdown of cell walls, and a notable visual increase in reflectance. Our preliminary study therefore suggests that we need to first improve our understanding of charcoal formation in order to better understand the fossil record of wildfires.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of the structural changes that occur during charcoalification: implications for identifying charcoal in the fossil record

Hudspith

Belcher

2017

Palaeontology

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“…This suggests that erosional movement of charcoal could continue for years following deposition on the soil surface. In addition, the highly friable nature of charcoal may render it more vulnerable to breakage, resulting in smaller particle sizes more vulnerable to movement (Liu et al, ), and potentially significantly impacting soil charcoal storage (Inoue et al, ). In extremely flat environments like our field site this may simply mean that charcoal moves around on the landscape, but in environments with topographic relief this may lead to preferential redistribution of charcoal into depositional lows and/or watersheds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐Term Changes in Physical and Chemical Properties of Soil Charcoal Support Enhanced Landscape Mobility

et al. 2017

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Charcoal is a major component of the stable soil organic carbon reservoir, and the physical and chemical properties of charcoal can sometimes significantly alter bulk soil properties (e.g., by increasing soil water holding capacity). However, our understanding of the residence time of soil charcoal remains uncertain, with old measured soil charcoal ages in apparent conflict with relatively short modeled and measured residence times. These discrepancies may exist because the fate of charcoal on the landscape is a function not just of its resistance to biological decomposition but also its physical mobility. Mobility may be important in controlling charcoal landscape residence time and may artificially inflate estimates of its degradability, but few studies have examined charcoal vulnerability to physical redistribution. Charcoal landscape redistribution is likely higher than other organic carbon fractions owing to charcoal's low bulk density, typically less than 1.0 g/cm3. Here we examine both the physical and chemical properties of soil and charcoal over a period of two years following a 2011 wildfire in Texas. We find little change in properties with time; however, we find evidence of enhanced mobility of charcoal relative to other forms of soil organic matter. These data add to a growing body of evidence that charcoal is preferentially eroded, offering another explanation for variations observed in its environmental residence times.

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“…PyC particles have been shown to decrease in specific surface area over time (Hockaday et al, 2007), although the physical fragmentation of larger particles may ultimately increase total surface areas in soil. Preferential mobilization of PyC particles has received little attention, but a recent study suggests that more highly condensed PyC may be more readily physically degraded in soils due to its physically less stable structure, leaving behind a more biologically available PyC (Inoue et al, 2017).…”

Section: Belowground Sequestration Of Recalcitrant Carbonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An increased emphasis on the importance of PyC in the global carbon (C) cycle and as an amendment for agricultural soils has resulted in a rapid increase in the number of studies across managed, semi-natural, and natural environmental conditions affording a multi-disciplinary framework for improving our mechanistic understanding of PyC (Barrow, 2012;Santín et al, 2015;Dietrich et al, 2017). Applications of molecular spectroscopic analyses to PyC studies in natural environments complement the absolute quantification of PyC and any known information on molecular changes associated with wood pyrolysis (Nishimiya et al, 1998), transport and oxidation of PyC particles (Hockaday et al, 2006;Cheng et al, 2008;Inoue et al, 2017), change in soil organic matter quality due to wildfires , and interactions of PyC surfaces with the surrounding soil environment (Archanjo et al, 2017). In this review, we describe these potential functions and explore the mechanisms underlying PyC functionality in natural and semi-natural environments for the advancement of multi-disciplinary research endeavors (see Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Function of Wildfire-Deposited Pyrogenic Carbon in Terrestrial Ecosystems

Pingree

DeLuca

2017

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Disappearance and alteration process of charcoal fragments in cumulative soils studied using Raman spectroscopy

Cited by 24 publications

References 52 publications

Observations of the structural changes that occur during charcoalification: implications for identifying charcoal in the fossil record

Observations of the structural changes that occur during charcoalification: implications for identifying charcoal in the fossil record

Short‐Term Changes in Physical and Chemical Properties of Soil Charcoal Support Enhanced Landscape Mobility

Function of Wildfire-Deposited Pyrogenic Carbon in Terrestrial Ecosystems

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