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Mathematical description of the dynamics of 12C and 14C in the soil humus

  • Soil Chemistry
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Abstract

Mathematical tools that can be applied to analyze the dynamics of 14C and 12C isotopes in soil humus are discussed. A system of two differential equations is suggested to describe the dynamics of the 12C and the 14C/12C ratio (normalized to the NBS standard) with due account for the initial conditions and for the 14C dynamics in the atmosphere (in particular, the bomb effect). Possible analytical solutions to these equations and algorithms that can be used in the case when these solutions are absent are discussed. Routine problems of the assessment of the dates of soil burying and the coefficient of the humus mineralization on the basis of the experimentally determined 14C/12C ratios in the soil humus are considered with the use of published data. In particular, the specific features of the assessment of the parameters of these equations in the case of the insufficiency of the experimental data are analyzed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Institutskaya 2, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142290, Russia

    V. V. Galitskii & I. V. Ivanov

Authors
  1. V. V. Galitskii
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  2. I. V. Ivanov
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Correspondence to V. V. Galitskii.

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Original Russian Text © V.V. Galitskii, I.V. Ivanov, 2012, published in Pochvovedenie, 2012, No. 12, pp. 1278–1286.

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Galitskii, V.V., Ivanov, I.V. Mathematical description of the dynamics of 12C and 14C in the soil humus. Eurasian Soil Sc. 45, 1129–1137 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229312120046

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