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Thermally based isotopic speciation of carbon in complex matrices: a tool for environmental investigation

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Abstract

Elemental and isotopic analyses of carbon in environmental matrices usually highlight multiple pools of different composition and 13C/12C (δ13C ‰) isotopic ratio. Interpretation necessarily needs the characterization of the diverse end-members that usually are constituted by inorganic and organic components. In this view, we developed a routine protocol based on coupling of elemental and isotopic analyses that is able to discriminate the inorganic (IC) and organic (OC) contributions to the total carbon (TC) content. The procedure is only based on thermal destabilization of the different carbon pools and has been successfully applied on different environmental matrices (rocks, soils, and biological samples) with a mean C elemental and isotopic recoveries of 99.5 % (SD = 1.3 %) and 0.2 ‰ (SD = 0.2 ‰), respectively. The thermally based speciation (TBS) leads us to define precise isotopic end-members, which are unaffected by any chemical treatment of the sample, to be used for accurate mass balance calculation that represents a powerful tool to quantify the distinct carbon pools. The paper critically evaluates the method explaining the potentials and the current limits of the proposed analytical protocol.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the following colleagues for providing samples and reference materials: Dr. R. Marchesini, University of Ferrara (plant samples), Dr. P. Gioacchini, University of Bologna (manure and litter samples), and Dr. I. Baneschi, IGG-CNR of Pisa (Carrara Marble). The authors thanks Dr. M. Verde for XRPD analyses and the three anonymous referees and the editor for their constructive comments that helped to improve earlier versions of the manuscript. The study was funded in part by the European Fund of Regional Development (POR FESR 2007-2013), Terra&AcquaTech Labs., Technopole of Ferrara.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Claudio Natali & Gianluca Bianchini

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  1. Claudio Natali
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  2. Gianluca Bianchini
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Correspondence to Gianluca Bianchini.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Natali, C., Bianchini, G. Thermally based isotopic speciation of carbon in complex matrices: a tool for environmental investigation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 12162–12173 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4503-x

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