Articles | Volume 16, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3197-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3197-2019
Technical note
 | 
28 Aug 2019
Technical note |  | 28 Aug 2019

Technical Note: Isotopic corrections for the radiocarbon composition of CO2 in the soil gas environment must account for diffusion and diffusive mixing

Jocelyn E. Egan, David R. Bowling, and David A. Risk

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Cited articles

Bowling, D. R., Egan, J. E., Hall, S. J., and Risk, D. A.: Environmental forcing does not induce diel or synoptic variation in the carbon isotope content of forest soil respiration, Biogeosciences, 12, 5143–5160, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5143-2015, 2015. 
Breecker, D. O., Payne, A. E., Quade, J., Banner, J. L., Ball, C. E., Meyer, K. W. and Cowan, B. D.: The sources and sinks of CO2 in caves under mixed woodland and grassland vegetation, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 96, 230–246, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2012.08.023, 2012. 
Cerling, T. E.: The stable isotopic composition of modern soil carbonate and its relationship to climate, Earth Planet. Sc. Lett., 71, 229–240, 1984. 
Cerling, T. E., Solomon, K. D., Quade, J., and Bowman, J. R.: On the isotopic composition of carbon in soil carbon dioxide, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 55, 3403–3405, 1991. 
Davidson, G. R.: The stable isotopic composition and measurement of carbon in soil CO2, Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac., 59, 2485–2489, 1995. 
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Short summary
Traditionally a mass-dependent correction is made when measuring the radiocarbon composition in organic samples. This correction has not been evaluated for the soil gas environment where gas transport processes are important. Here, we show using theory that this traditional correction is not appropriate for estimating the radiocarbon composition of soil biological production. We also propose a new solution that accounts for soil gas transport processes.
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