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Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, a new cost-effective tool for quantitative analysis of biogeochemical properties in long sediment records

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Abstract

Measurements of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS) in the mid-infrared (MIR) region were conducted on sedimentary records from Lake El’gygytgyn, NE Siberia, and Lake Ohrid, Albania/Macedonia. Calibration models relating FTIR spectral information to biogeochemical property concentrations were established using partial least squares regression (PLSR). They showed good statistical performance for total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and biogenic silica (opal) in the sediment record from Lake El’gygytgyn, and for TOC, total inorganic carbon (TIC), TN, and opal in sediments from Lake Ohrid. In both cases, the calibration models were successfully applied for down-core analysis. The results, in combination with the small amount of sample material needed, negligible sample pre-treatments, and low costs of analysis, demonstrate that FTIRS is a promising, cost-effective tool that allows high-resolution paleolimnological studies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank, Ute Bastian (Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany) for laboratory assistance on core PG1351, Nina Stenbacka for FTIR laboratory assistance and Laura Cunningham for valuable comments on the manuscript. Pierre Francus, another anonymous reviewer and the handling editors John P. Smol and Mark Brenner gave very helpful comments and suggestions to the manuscript. Financial support was kindly provided by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Grant no. 03G0586A (Lake El’gygytgyn) and the German Research Foundation (DFG), grant no WA2109/1-1 (Lake Ohrid).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 49a, 50674, Cologne, Germany

    Hendrik Vogel, Bernd Wagner & Martin Melles

  2. Climate Impacts Research Centre (CIRC), Umeå University, 98107, Abisko, Sweden

    Peter Rosén

  3. Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 90187, Umea, Sweden

    Per Persson

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  1. Hendrik Vogel
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Correspondence to Hendrik Vogel.

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Vogel, H., Rosén, P., Wagner, B. et al. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, a new cost-effective tool for quantitative analysis of biogeochemical properties in long sediment records. J Paleolimnol 40, 689–702 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9193-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9193-7

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