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Fossil Carbon Load in Urban Vegetation for Debrecen, Hungary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2019

Tamás Varga Open the ORCID record for Tamás Varga [Opens in a new window] ,
Petra Barnucz ,
István Major ,
Zsuzsa Lisztes-Szabó ,
A J Timothy Jull Open the ORCID record for A J Timothy Jull [Opens in a new window] ,
Elemér László ,
János Pénzes  and
Mihály Molnár
Tamás Varga*
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary
Petra Barnucz
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary
István Major
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary
Zsuzsa Lisztes-Szabó
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary
A J Timothy Jull
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721USA University of Arizona AMS Laboratory, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Elemér László
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary
János Pénzes
Affiliation:
Department of Social Geography and Regional Development Planning, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Mihály Molnár
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), Debrecen, P.O Box 51, H-4001, Hungary
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Deciduous tree leaf and grass samples were collected in Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary. The aim of the study was to determine the rate of fossil fuel-derived carbon in urban vegetation. At the locations sampled, C3 and C4 plants close to roads were collected in September 2017. In total, 82 tree and grass leaf samples were gathered at 36 different sampling points all over the city of Debrecen. The radiocarbon (14C) results of the samples were compared to the local urban background atmospheric 14CO2 data to determine the percentage of the fossil fuel-derived carbon in the plants. Based on our results, the average fossil carbon content in the tree and grass leaf samples were 0.9 ± 1.2% and 2.5 ± 2.5%, respectively. The highest fossil carbon content was 9.6 ± 0.6% in a grass and 4.7 ± 0.7% in a tree leaf sample. It appears that the negative fossil carbon content results obtained at urban sampling areas reflect modern carbon emission, where radiocarbon content is higher than the corresponding local background, presumably due burning of recent wood containing bomb 14C in the suburbs as well as other possible sources such as litter decomposition or soil CO2 emission.

Keywords

fossil carbongrassleafradiocarbonvegetation
Type
Conference Paper
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 5: Radiocarbon 2018 Conference Proceedings Trondheim, Norway, June 17–22, 2018 Part 1 of 2 , October 2019 , pp. 1199 - 1210
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 23rd International Radiocarbon Conference, Trondheim, Norway, 17–22 June, 2018

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