Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in tropical Australian stalagmites: a framework for reconstructing paleofire activity

Argiriadis, Elena; Denniston, Rhawn F.; Ondei, Stefania; Bowman, David M.J.S.; Genuzio, Giulia; Nguyen, Huong Quynh Anh; Thompson, Jamie; Baltieri, Mattia; Azenon, Jonathan; Cugley, John; Woods, David; Humphreys, William F.; Barbante, Carlo

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2023.11.033

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Past fire activity can be reconstructed using inorganic and organic proxies preserved in environmental archives such as soils, sediments, or ice cores. In recent years, speleothems have been used to reconstruct past fire activity in Australia and North America (Argiriadis et al, 2019(Argiriadis et al, , 2023Homann et al, 2022Homann et al, , 2023McDonough et al, 2022). Fire sensitive stalagmite proxies include trace and minor elements and nutrients, calcite δ 18 O, and fire-sensitive biomarkers.…”

Section: Implications For Palaeofire Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Speleothems are excellent geochemical archives of past surface environmental change (e.g., Cheng et al, 2016;Domínguez-Villar et al, 2009). While speleothem proxies have recently been used to investigate past fires (see Argiriadis et al, 2023;Homann et al, 2022Homann et al, , 2023McDonough et al, 2022), a process-based understanding of the formation of fire proxies (both organic and inorganic) and how they reflect fire activity is needed to (a) build confidence in speleothems as archives of past fire, and (b) determine whether and how speleothems can record past fire severity as well as frequency. Here we present analyses of inorganic proxies in the water-soluble fraction of ash and soil samples collected from southwest and southeast Australia, and organic pyrogenic biomarkers from the solvent-extracted fraction of ashes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The legacies of fire impacts on ash and soil are also evident in organic compounds resulting from the combustion of plant material. Pyrogenic biomarkers such as levoglucosan and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are used to investigate past fire activity in environmental archives such as ice and sediment cores, and speleothems (Argiriadis et al, 2019(Argiriadis et al, , 2023Denis et al, 2012;Homann et al, 2022Homann et al, , 2023Rubino et al, 2016;Vachula et al, 2019). Levoglucosan (1,) is a water-soluble anhydrosugar which is formed through the thermal breakdown of cellulose and hemicellulose (Bhattarai et al, 2019;Elias et al, 2001;Li et al, 2021;Simoneit et al, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These proxy archives have allowed past fire activity to be reconstructed at local (e.g.,Rehn et al, 2021), continental (e.g.,Zennaro et al, 2015), and global scales (e.g.,Marlon et al, 2008). In recent years, speleothems (primarily stalagmites) have been developed as archives of past fire activity, with both inorganic proxies (predominantly trace metals) and pyrogenic biomarkers used to investigate past fire activity(Argiriadis et al, 2019(Argiriadis et al, , 2023M. Campbell et al, 2023;Homann et al, 2022Homann et al, , 2023McDonough et al, 2022).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combustion Completeness and Sample Location Determine Wildfire Ash Leachate Chemistry

Campbell,

Treble,

McDonough

et al. 2024

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Understanding past fire regimes and how they vary with climate, human activity, and vegetation patterns is fundamental to the mitigation and management of changing fire regimes as anthropogenic climate change progresses. Ash‐derived trace elements and pyrogenic biomarkers from speleothems have recently been shown to record past fire activity in speleothems from both Australia and North America. This calls for an empirical study of ash geochemistry to aid the interpretation of speleothem palaeofire proxy records. Here we present analyses of leached ashes collected following fires in southwest and southeast Australia. We include a suite of inorganic elemental data from the water‐soluble fraction of ash as well as a selection of organic analytes (pyrogenic lipid biomarkers). We also present elemental data from leachates of soils collected from sites in southwest Australia. We demonstrate that the water‐soluble fraction of ash differs from the water‐soluble fraction of soils, with trace and minor element concentrations in ash leachates varying with combustion completeness (burn severity) and sample location. Changes in some lipid biomarker concentrations extracted from ashes may reflect burn severity. Our results contribute to building a process‐based understanding of how speleothem geochemistry may record fire frequency and severity, and suggest that more research is needed to understand the transport pathways for the inclusion of pyrogenic biomarkers in speleothems. Our results also demonstrate that potential contaminant loads from ashes are much higher than from soils, with implications for the management of karst catchments, which are a critical water resource.

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Section: Implications For Palaeofire Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combustion Completeness and Sample Location Determine Wildfire Ash Leachate Chemistry

Campbell,

Treble,

McDonough

et al. 2024

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Present Trends in Analytical Methods for Determination of Multi-groups Environmental Contaminants Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons, Phthalates, Alkylphenol Ethoxylates, Alkylphenols, and Butylated Hydroxytoluene in River Sediments

Rusiňáková,

Brenkus,

Návojová

et al. 2024

Water Air Soil Pollut

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This paper is focused on an overview of developments and validation procedures in analytical methods for the detection and quantification of emerging contaminants from multiple groups of environmental contaminants in the environment: polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters (PEs), alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs), alkylphenols (APs), and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in river sediments. Especially, the simultaneous extraction of several analyte groups from sediment samples is currently uncommon, but from the perspective of green analytical chemistry, it is highly desirable. In simultaneous analysis, multiple groups of substances are determined at once instead of through several individual analyses, saving energy, time, and chemicals while significantly increasing laboratory throughput. This review reports different approaches for monitoring the presence of environmental contaminants from four different groups of contaminants from river sediments. There are plenty of sampling techniques, with the core and grab sampling being the most employed at present. Sample preparation is a challenging part of the whole analytical method, providing ample opportunity for optimization in accordance with green analytical chemistry principles. Various extraction schemes, including ultrasound-assisted extraction techniques, accelerated solvent extraction, and microwave-assisted extraction are energy-intensive techniques but may be considered "green" due to their possibility to reduce the consumption of organic solvents, which are usually considered toxic. Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe extraction (QuEChERS) in the case of satisfactory validation parameters is well-evaluated and utilized. The most recent developments in extraction and clean-up techniques for simultaneous analysis of two, three or four groups of contaminants are showing promising results. Separation and detection techniques are shortly discussed. Further optimizations of analytical methodologies are needed, and future developments in the field of analytical methods for sediment samples are expected for more efficient and faster acquisition of data on the presence of contaminants in real monitoring samples.

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Investigating the application of organic geochemical techniques to tropical Anjohibe (Madagascar) stalagmites

Dawson,

Castañeda,

Burns

et al. 2024

Organic Geochemistry

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in tropical Australian stalagmites: a framework for reconstructing paleofire activity

Cited by 7 publications

References 82 publications

Combustion Completeness and Sample Location Determine Wildfire Ash Leachate Chemistry

Combustion Completeness and Sample Location Determine Wildfire Ash Leachate Chemistry

Present Trends in Analytical Methods for Determination of Multi-groups Environmental Contaminants Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons, Phthalates, Alkylphenol Ethoxylates, Alkylphenols, and Butylated Hydroxytoluene in River Sediments

Investigating the application of organic geochemical techniques to tropical Anjohibe (Madagascar) stalagmites

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