Carbon and nitrogen molecular composition of soil organic matter fractions resistant to oxidation
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The methods used to isolate and characterise pyrogenic organic carbon (PyC) from soils vary widely, and there is little agreement in the literature as to which method truly isolates the most chemically recalcitrant (inferred from oxidative resistance) and persistent (inferred from radiocarbon abundance) fraction of soil organic matter. In addition, the roles of fire, fuel type and soil morphology in the preservation of PyC are not yet defined. In an attempt to elucidate the importance of oxidative recalcitrance, fuel type and soil morphology to the persistence of soil organic matter, we examined two strongly contrasting soils using a variety of PyC isolation techniques coupled with quantifications of the molecular structure and mean residence time of the isolated organic materials. Surface and subsurface soil samples were examined from a Red Chromosol soil and a Black Vertosol soil. The d13C values suggest that PyC in the Red Chromosol was sourced from eucalyptus, whereas PyC in the Black Vertosol was formed from grass. Soils were sieved at 53 µm, treated with hydrofluoric acid to remove organics associated with mineral surfaces, then subjected to three common ‘PyC isolation’ treatments: chromic acid, photo-oxidation and chromic acid followed by photo-oxidation. Molecular structure of the organic residues remaining after each treatment was quantified by solid-state 13C cross polarisation magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, and the mean residence time of the organic residues was estimated based on radiocarbon abundance. In all cases, treatment with chromic acid followed by photo-oxidation isolated the smallest proportion of organic matter (5–10% of <53 µm C) which also had the longest mean residence time (estimated 600–3460 years). Additionally, molecular structure measurements indicated that this fraction was not composed solely of aromatic compounds, suggesting a non-homogenous source for the most oxidative-resistant fraction of soil organic matter.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".