Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-wlg5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-30T15:10:36.998Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spatial Variability of Bomb 14C in an Upland Peat Bog

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

S M L Hardie ,
M H Garnett ,
A E Fallick ,
A P Rowland  and
N J Ostle
S M L Hardie*
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, United Kingdom Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, United Kingdom
M H Garnett
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, United Kingdom
A E Fallick
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, United Kingdom
A P Rowland
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, United Kingdom
N J Ostle
Affiliation:
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4AP, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author. Email: s.hardie.l@research.gla.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

As part of a study investigating the carbon balance of a blanket bog, we made an assessment of the spatial variation of radiocarbon concentrations in the surface layers of a small area of peatland in the north of England. The peat depth at which bomb-14C content was the highest varied considerably between cores sampled from across the site. At several sampling locations, 14C levels >100% Modern were confined to the surface 8 cm, whereas bomb 14C was evident at 1 site, located only meters away, to a depth of at least 12–16 cm. Using the layer where 14C levels first exceeded 100% Modern as a chronological reference layer, we estimated the carbon accumulation rate over the last 50 yr for the surface peat at each site (range ∼20 to ∼125 g C m2 yr-1). Our results show that although carbon accumulation over the last 50 yr was similar across the site, variation in the depth to which bomb 14C was evident implied considerable variation in the vertical peat growth rate.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 1055 - 1063
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Barber, K, Dumayne-Peaty, L, Hughes, P, Mauquoy, D, Scaife, R. 1998. Replicability and variability of the recent macrofossil and proxy-climate record from raised bogs: field stratigraphy and macrofossil data from Bolton Fell Moss and Walton Moss, Cumbria, England. Journal of Quaternary Science 13(6):515–28.3.0.CO;2-S>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, KE, Maddy, D, Rose, N, Stevenson, AC, Stoneman, R, Thompson, R. 2000. Replicated proxy-climate signals over the last 2000 yr from two distant UK peat bogs: new evidence for regional palaeoclimate teleconnections. Quaternary Science Reviews 19(6):481–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellamy, PH, Loveland, PJ, Bradley, RI, Lark, RM, Kirk, GJD. 2005. Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales 1978–2003. Nature 437(7056):245–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borren, W, Bleuten, W, Lapshina, ED. 2004. Holocene peat and carbon accumulation rates in the southern taiga of western Siberia. Quaternary Research 61(1):42–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charman, DJ, Aravena, R, Bryant, CL, Harkness, DD. 1999. Carbon isotopes in peat, DOC, CO2, and CH4 in a Holocene peatland on Dartmoor, southwest England. Geology 27(6):539–42.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clymo, R. 1983. Peat. In: Gore, A, editor. Mires, Swamp, Bog, Fen and Moor. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company. p 159–222.Google Scholar
Clymo, RS, Turunen, J, Tolonen, K. 1998. Carbon accumulation in peatland. Oikos 81(2):368–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. 1957. Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass-spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 12(1–2):133–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuttle, SP, Malcolm, DC. 1979. A corer for taking undisturbed peat samples. Plant and Soil 51(2):297–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dioumaeva, I, Trumbore, S, Schuur, EAG, Goulden, ML, Litvak, M, Hirsch, AI. 2002. Decomposition of peat from upland boreal forest: temperature dependence and sources of respired carbon. Journal of Geophysical Research–Atmospheres 107:8222, doi:10.1029/2001JD000848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garnett, MH, Ineson, P, Stevenson, AC, Howard, DC. 2001. Terrestrial organic carbon storage in a British moorland. Global Change Biology 7(4):375–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorham, E. 1991. Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climatic warming. Ecological Applications 1(2):182–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, PJ, Edwards, NT, Garten, CT, Andrews, JA. 2000. Separating root and soil microbial contributions to soil respiration: a review of methods and observations. Biogeochemistry 48(1):115–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harkness, DD, Harrison, AF. 1989. The influence of afforestation on upland soils: the use of ‘bomb 14C’ enrichment as a quantitative tracer for changes in organic status. Radiocarbon 31(3):637–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houghton, JT, Ding, Y, Griggs, DJ, Noguer, M, van der Linden, PJ, Dai, X, Maskell, K, Johnson, CA, editors. 2001. Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 892 p.Google Scholar
Jenkinson, DS, Harkness, DD, Vance, ED, Adams, DE, Harrison, AF. 1992. Calculating net primary production and annual input of organic matter to soil from the amount and radiocarbon content of soil organic matter. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 24(4):295–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilian, MR, van Geel, B, van der Plicht, J. 2000. 14C AMS wiggle matching of raised bog deposits and models of peat accumulation. Quaternary Science Reviews 19(10):1011–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, I, Hesshaimer, V. 2000. Radiocarbon—a unique tracer of global carbon cycle dynamics. Radiocarbon 42(1):69–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, I, Kromer, B. 2004. The tropospheric 14CO2 level in mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (1959–2003). Radiocarbon 46(3):1261–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masiello, CA, Chadwick, OA, Southon, J, Torn, MS, Harden, JW. 2004. Weathering controls on mechanisms of carbon storage in grassland soils. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 18(4):GB4023, doi:10.1029/2004GB002219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schimel, DS. 1995. Terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycle. Global Change Biology 1(1):77–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuur, EAG, Trumbore, SE. 2006. Partitioning sources of soil respiration in boreal black spruce forest using radiocarbon. Global Change Biology 12(2):165–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shore, JS, Bartley, DD, Harkness, DD. 1995. Problems encountered with the 14C dating of peat. Quaternary Science Reviews 14(4):373–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slota, PJ Jr, Jull, AJT, Linick, TW, Toolin, LJ. 1987. Preparation of small samples for 14C accelerator targets by catalytic reduction of CO. Radiocarbon 29(2):303–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trumbore, SE. 1993. Comparison of carbon dynamics in tropical and temperate soils using radiocarbon measurements. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 7(2):275–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trumbore, SE, Da Costa, ES, Nepstad, DC, Barbosa De Camargo, P, Martinelli, LA, Ray, D, Restom, T, Silver, W. 2006. Dynamics of fine root carbon in Amazonian tropical ecosystems and the contribution of roots to soil respiration. Global Change Biology 12(2):217–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turunen, J, Tomppo, E, Tolonen, K, Reinikainen, A. 2002. Estimating carbon accumulation rates of undrained mires in Finland—application to boreal and subarctic regions. The Holocene 12(1):69–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y, Amundson, R, Niu, X-F. 2000. Seasonal and altitudinal variation in decomposition of soil organic matter inferred from radiocarbon measurements of soil CO2 flux. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14(1):199–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, S, Anderson, R, Bryant, C, Cook, GT, Dougans, A, Freeman, S, Naysmith, P, Schnabel, C, Scott, EM. 2004. Capabilities of the new SUERC 5MV AMS facility for 14C dating. Radiocarbon 46(1):59–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar