Tracing Organic Carbon Sources and Turnover Times Using Sedimentaty Radiocarbon Signatures in Swiss Lakes
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Date
2023-06-09Type
- Other Conference Item
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Abstract
Inland waters play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle, with organic carbon (OC) burial in lake sediments constituting carbon removal from rapidly cycling Earth surface pools. However, the nature of sequestered OC has different climatic implications. The burial of recently synthesized terrestrial and aquatic biospheric OC represents a rapid drawdown of atmospheric carbon. In contrast, the burial of aged soil OC sequesters carbon on longer timescales, and the re-burial of rock-derived carbon has no net effect on atmospheric CO2. Therefore, it is crucial to distinguish the origin of OC when quantifying lake sediment carbon budgets. We aim to contribute to the understanding of carbon burial in inland waters by investigating the sources and dynamics of organic carbon accumulation in Swiss lake sediments. We use the natural climatic, lithological, and ecological gradients of several lake catchments within different biogeographical regions in Switzerland to assess controls on the abundance, sources, and dynamics of OC accumulating within their sediments over the last century. We focus on the use of radiocarbon 14C as a tool to determine the age and origin of OC. In particular, the 20th -century 14C “bomb spike” offers the possibility of constraining carbon dynamics and deconvoluting inputs on decadal time scales through down-core investigation of lacustrine records. Our investigation also highlights the challenges in understanding the nature of allochthonous carbon in these systems. Show more
Publication status
publishedExternal links
Publisher
Association for the Sciences of Limnology and OceanographyEvent
Subject
Radiocarbon; carbon storage; lake sediment; organic carbonOrganisational unit
03868 - Eglinton, Timothy I. / Eglinton, Timothy I.
Funding
193770 - Radiocarbon Inventories of Switzerland (RICH): An integrated approach to understand the changing carbon cycle (SNF)
Notes
Conference lecture held on June 9, 2023.More
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