Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:41:35.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Grass Material as a Modern Process Standard for 14C Analysis of n-Alkanes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

L M Cisneros-Dozal ,
X Xu ,
C Bryant ,
E J Pearson  and
J A J Dungait
L M Cisneros-Dozal*
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Facility, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, United Kingdom.
X Xu
Affiliation:
KECK CCAMS Facility, Earth System Science Department, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
C Bryant
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Facility, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, United Kingdom.
E J Pearson
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.
J A J Dungait
Affiliation:
Sustainable Soils and Grassland Systems Department, Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Devon, EX20 2SB, United Kingdom.
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One of the difficulties in reporting accurate radiocarbon results from compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) is the lack of suitable process standard materials to correct for the amount and 14C content of carbon added during extensive sample processing. We evaluated the use of n-alkanes extracted from modern grass material (1.224±0.006 fraction modern) as process standards for CSRA. The n-alkanes were isolated using preparative capillary gas chromatography (PCGC) from two independent chemical extraction methods applied to the grass. Since this was our first assessment of the 14C content of the grass n-alkanes, we corrected for extraneous carbon derived from PCGC isolation using commercially available single compounds of modern and 14C-free content. Results were consistent across the two extraction methods showing that the C29n-alkane has a fraction modern value that is within 1σ of the bulk value of the grass while C31n-alkane and less abundant n-alkanes have values within 2σ of the bulk value of the grass. C29 and C31n-alkanes were the most abundant n-alkanes in the grass and, as such, the more feasible for collection of sufficient amounts of carbon for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis. Our results suggest that choosing a grass n-alkane with an elution time closest to that of the unknowns may be advisable due to possibly greater effect from GC column bleed (14C-free) at later elution times. We conclude that C29 and C31n-alkanes in modern grass of known 14C content can be used as in-house standards to correct for the addition of 14C-free carbon during sample preparation for 14C analysis of n-alkanes.

Keywords

compound-specific radiocarbon analysisgrassn-alkanescarbon cycling
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 445 - 458
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Coppola, AI, Ziolkowski, LA, Druffel, ERM. 2013. Extraneous carbon assessments in radiocarbon measurements of black carbon in environmental matrices. Radiocarbon 55(2–3):1631–1640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas, PMJ, Pagani, M, Eglinton, TI, Brenner, M, Hodell, DA, Curtis, JH, Ma, KF, Breckenridge, A. 2014. Pre-aged plant waxes in tropical lake sediments and their influence on the chronology of molecular paleoclimate proxy records. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 141:346–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, ERM, Zhang, DC, Xu, XM, Ziolkowski, LA, Southon, JR, dos Santos, GM, Trumbore, SE. 2010. Compound-specific radiocarbon analyses of phospholipid fatty acids and n-alkanes in ocean sediments. Radiocarbon 52(3):1215–1223.Google Scholar
Eglinton, TI, Aluwihare, LI, Bauer, JE, Druffel, ERM, McNichol, AP. 1996. Gas chromatographic isolation of individual compounds from complex matrices for radiocarbon dating. Analytical Chemistry 68(5):904–912.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammes, K, Schmidt, MWI, Smernik, RJ, Currie, LA, Ball, WP, Nguyen, TH, Louchouarn, P, Houel, S, Gustafsson, O, Elmquist, M, Cornelissen, G, Skjemstad, JO, Masiello, CA, Song, J, Peng, P, Mitra, S, Dunn, JC, Hatcher, PG, Hockaday, WC, Smith, DM, Hartkopf-Froeder, C, Boehmer, A, Luer, B, Huebert, BJ, Amelung, W, Brodowski, S, Huang, L, Zhang, W, Gschwend, PM, Flores-Cervantes, DX, Largeau, C, Rouzaud, JN, Rumpel, C, Guggenberger, G, Kaiser, K, Rodionov, A, Gonzalez-Vila, FJ, Gonzalez-Perez, JA, de la Rosa, JM, Manning, DAC, Lopez-Capel, E, Ding, L. 2007. Comparison of quantification methods to measure fire-derived (black/elemental) carbon in soils and sediments using reference materials from soil, water, sediment and the atmosphere. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 21(3):GB3016.Google Scholar
Hua, Q, Barbetti, M, Rakowski, AZ. 2013. Atmospheric radiocarbon for the period 1950–2010. Radiocarbon 55(4):2059–2072.Google Scholar
Kramer, C, Trumbore, S, Froberg, M, Dozal, LMC, Zhang, DC, Xu, XM, Santos, GM, Hanson, PJ. 2010. Recent (< 4 year old) leaf litter is not a major source of microbial carbon in a temperate forest mineral soil. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 42(7):1028–1037.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kusch, S, Eglinton, TI, Mix, AC, Mollenhauer, G. 2010. Timescales of lateral sediment transport in the Panama Basin as revealed by radiocarbon ages of alkenones, total organic carbon and foraminifera. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 290(3–4):340–350.Google Scholar
Levin, I, Kromer, B, Schoch-Fischer, H, Bruns, M, Münnich, M, Berdau, D, Vogel, JC, Münnich, KO. 1985. 25 years of tropospheric 14C observations in Central Europe. Radiocarbon 27(1):1–19.Google Scholar
McIntosh, HA, McNichol, AP, Xu, L, Canuel, EA. 2015. Source-age dynamics of estuarine particulate organic matter using fatty acid δ13C and Δ14C composition. Limnology and Oceanography 60(2):611–628.Google Scholar
Mollenhauer, G, Rethemeyer, J. 2009. Compound-specific radiocarbon analysis – analytical challenges and applications. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 5:1–9.Google Scholar
Ohkouchi, N, Eglinton, TI. 2008. Compound-specific radiocarbon dating of Ross Sea sediments: a prospect for constructing chronologies in high-latitude oceanic sediments. Quaternary Geochronology 3(3):235–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Brown, TA, Reimer, RW. 2004. Discussion: reporting and calibration of post-bomb 14C data. Radiocarbon 46(3):1299–1304.Google Scholar
Rethemeyer, J, Kramer, C, Gleixner, G, John, B, Yamashita, T, Flessa, H, Andersen, N, Nadeau, MJ, Grootes, PM. 2005. Transformation of organic matter in agricultural soils: radiocarbon concentration versus soil depth. Geoderma 128(1–2):94–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, GM, Southon, JR, Drenzek, NJ, Ziolkowski, LA, Druffel, E, Xu, XM, Zhang, DC, Trumbore, S, Eglinton, TI, Hughen, KA. 2010. Blank assessment for ultra-small radiocarbon samples: chemical extraction and separation versus AMS. Radiocarbon 52(3):1322–1335.Google Scholar
Santos, GM, Southon, JR, Griffin, S, Beaupre, SR, Druffel, ERM. 2007. Ultra small-mass AMS 14C sample preparation and analyses at KCCAMS/UCI Facility. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):293–302.Google Scholar
Slota, PJ, Jull, AJT, Linick, TW, Toolin, LJ. 1987. Preparation of small samples for 14C accelerator targets by catalytic reduction of CO. Radiocarbon 29(2):303–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–363.Google Scholar
Tao, SQ, Eglinton, TI, Montlucon, DB, McIntyre, C, Zhao, MX. 2015. Pre-aged soil organic carbon as a major component of the Yellow River suspended load: regional significance and global relevance. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 414:77–86.Google Scholar
Uchida, M, Shibata, Y, Kawamura, K, Kumamoto, Y, Yoneda, M, Ohkushi, K, Harada, N, Hirota, M, Mukai, H, Tanaka, A, Kusakabe, M, Morita, M. 2001. Compound-specific radiocarbon ages of fatty acids in marine sediments from the western North Pacific. Radiocarbon 43(2B):949–956.Google Scholar
Uchikawa, J, Popp, BN, Schoonmaker, JE, Xu, L. 2008. Direct application of compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of leaf waxes to establish lacustrine sediment chronology. Journal of Paleolimnology 39(1):43–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zencak, Z, Reddy, CM, Teuten, EL, Xu, L, McNichol, AP, Gustafsson, O. 2007. Evaluation of gas chromatographic isotope fractionation and process contamination by carbon in compound-specific radiocarbon analysis. Analytical Chemistry 79(5):2042–2049.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ziolkowski, LA, Druffel, ERM. 2009. Quantification of extraneous carbon during compound specific radiocarbon analysis of black carbon. Analytical Chemistry 81(24):10,156–61.Google Scholar