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The Isotopic Composition of Carbon in Soil Lipids in the Oil and Gas Development Area in Volgograd Oblast, Russia

  • SOIL CHEMISTRY
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Abstract

Research data on the isotopic composition of carbon in soil lipids in the Zhirnovskoe and Bakhmet’evskoe oil and gas fields in the Medveditsa River basin, Volgograd oblast, Russia, are analyzed. Oil and atmospheric soil pollution is recorded. The variations in the isotopic composition are determined by both anthropogenic factors and the diversity of natural conditions. The isotopic composition of carbon in the lipids of the interfluvial soils (chernozems) is heavier (–26.9 to –29.2‰) than that in the alluvial soils (–29.4 to –31.3‰) because of the differences in the moistening and temperature conditions. Oil pollution appears as a lighter isotopic composition (–29.3 to –29.8‰) since oil isotopic composition is in general somewhat lighter (–28.4 to –30.6‰) as compared with unpolluted soils. Urban and transport infrastructure makes the isotopic composition of atmospheric CO2 lighter, thereby influencing the δ13С values of plants and soils.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to N.I. Khlynina and E.V. Terskaya, Chair of Landscape Geochemistry and Soil Geography, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, for their assistance in laboratory assays and field activities.

Funding

The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grants no. 19-17-00126 for analysis of stable isotopes, no. 14-17-00193 for field activities, and no. 19-77-30004 for analysis of lipids) and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 18-05-60272 for data generalization).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    A. D. Belik, Yu. K. Vasil’chuk, A. N. Gennadiev, N. A. Budantseva, R. G. Kovach & T. S. Koshovskii

  2. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    A. P. Zhidkin

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  1. A. D. Belik
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  2. Yu. K. Vasil’chuk
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  3. A. N. Gennadiev
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  4. N. A. Budantseva
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  5. A. P. Zhidkin
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  6. R. G. Kovach
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  7. T. S. Koshovskii
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Correspondence to A. D. Belik.

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Translated by G. Chirikova

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Belik, A.D., Vasil’chuk, Y.K., Gennadiev, A.N. et al. The Isotopic Composition of Carbon in Soil Lipids in the Oil and Gas Development Area in Volgograd Oblast, Russia. Eurasian Soil Sc. 53, 1735–1742 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229320120030

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