@article {castrillejo_comparability_2023, title = {Comparability of Radiocarbon Measurements in Dissolved Inorganic Carbon of Seawater Produced at ETH-Zurich}, journal = {Radiocarbon}, year = {2023}, note = {Publisher: Cambridge University Press}, month = {03/2023}, pages = {1{\textendash}10}, abstract = {Radiocarbon observations (Δ14C) in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of seawater provide useful information about ocean carbon cycling and ocean circulation. To deliver high-quality observations, the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP) at ETH-Zurich developed a new simplified method allowing the rapid analysis of radiocarbon in DIC of small seawater samples, which is continually assessed by following internal quality controls. However, a comparison with externally produced 14C measurements to better establish an equivalency between methods was still missing. Here, we make the first intercomparison with the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (NOSAMS) facility based on 14 duplicate seawater samples collected in 2020. We also compare with prior deep-water observations from the 1970s to 1990s. The results show a very good agreement in both comparisons. The mean Δ14C of 12 duplicate samples measured by LIP and NOSAMS were statistically identical within one sigma uncertainty while two other duplicate samples agreed within two sigma. Based on this small number of duplicate samples, LIP values appear to be slightly lower than the NOSAMS values, but more measurements will be needed for confirmation. We also comment on storage and preservation techniques used in this study, including the freezing of samples collected in foil bags.}, keywords = {14C, comparison, DIC, dissolved inorganic carbon, radiocarbon, SEAWATER}, issn = {0033-8222, 1945-5755}, doi = {10.1017/RDC.2023.16}, url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/comparability-of-radiocarbon-measurements-in-dissolved-inorganic-carbon-of-seawater-produced-at-ethzurich/B9F6C6AA45835FA3ED0BF8E0CD9788E3}, author = {Castrillejo, Maxi and Hansman, Roberta L. and Graven, Heather D. and Lester, Joanna G. and Bollhalder, Silvia and K{\"u}ndig, Kayley and Wacker, Lukas} } @article {2921, title = {Climate control on terrestrial biospheric carbon turnover}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, volume = {118}, year = {2021}, month = {Nov-02-2022}, pages = {e2011585118}, abstract = {Terrestrial vegetation and soils hold three times more carbon than the atmosphere. Much debate concerns how anthropogenic activity will perturb these surface reservoirs, potentially exacerbating ongoing changes to the climate system. Uncertainties specifically persist in extrapolating point-source observations to ecosystem-scale budgets and fluxes, which require consideration of vertical and lateral processes on multiple temporal and spatial scales. To explore controls on organic carbon (OC) turnover at the river basin scale, we present radiocarbon (C-14) ages on two groups of molecular tracers of plant-derived carbon-leaf-wax lipids and lignin phenols-from a globally distributed suite of rivers. We find significant negative relationships between the C-14 age of these biomarkers and mean annual temperature and precipitation. Moreover, riverine biospheric-carbon ages scale proportionally with basin-wide soil carbon turnover times and soil C-14 ages, implicating OC cycling within soils as a primary control on exported biomarker ages and revealing a broad distribution of soil OC reactivities. The ubiquitous occurrence of a long-lived soil OC pool suggests soil OC is globally vulnerable to perturbations by future temperature and precipitation increase. Scaling of riverine biospheric-carbon ages with soil OC turnover shows the former can constrain the sensitivity of carbon dynamics to environmental controls on broad spatial scales. Extracting this information from fluvially dominated sedimentary sequences may inform past variations in soil OC turnover in response to anthropogenic and/or climate perturbations. In turn, monitoring riverine OC composition may help detect future climate-change-induced perturbations of soil OC turnover and stocks.}, keywords = {Carbon cycle, carbon turnover times, fluvial carbon, plant biomarkers, radiocarbon}, issn = {0027-8424}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.2011585118}, url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349357864_Climate_control_on_terrestrial_biospheric_carbon_turnover}, author = {Eglinton, Timothy I. and Galy, Valier V. and Hemingway, Jordon D. and Feng, Xiaojuan and Bao, Hongyan and Blattmann, Thomas M. and Dickens, Angela F. and Gies, Hannah and Giosan, Liviu and Haghipour, Negar and Hou, Pengfei and Lupker, Maarten and McIntyre, Cameron P. and Montlu{\c c}on, Daniel B. and Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard and Ponton, Camilo and Schefu{\ss}, Enno and Schwab, Melissa S. and Voss, Britta M. and Wacker, Lukas and Wu, Ying and Zhao, Meixun} } @article {2681, title = {Laser ablation{\textendash}accelerator mass spectrometry reveals complete bomb 14C signal in an otolith with confirmation of 60-year longevity for red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus)}, journal = {Marine and Freshwater Research}, volume = {70}, year = {2019}, month = {Jan-01-2019}, pages = {1768}, abstract = {Bomb-produced14C has been used to make valid estimates of age for various marine organisms for 25 years, but fish ages that lead to birth years earlier than the period of increase in14C lose their time specificity. As a result, bomb14Cdating is limited to a minimum age from the last year of prebomb levels because the temporal variation in14C in the marine surface layer is negligible for decades before c. 1958. The longevity of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) in the Gulf of Mexico remains unresolved despite various forms of support for ages near 50{\textendash}60 years. Although the age and growth of red snapper have been verified or validated to a limited extent, some scepticism remains about longevity estimates that exceed30 years. In this study, red snapper otoliths were analysed for14C using a novel laser ablation{\textendash}accelerator mass spectrometry technique to provide a continuousrecordof14C uptake. This approach provided a basis for age validation that extends beyond the normal limits of bomb14C dating with confirmation of a 60-year longevity for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.}, keywords = {Age validation, Carbon-14, Gulf of Mexico, Lutjanidae, radiocarbon.}, issn = {1323-1650}, doi = {10.1071/MF18265}, url = {http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=MF18265}, author = {Andrews, Allen H. and Yeman, Christiane and Welte, Caroline and Hattendorf, Bodo and Wacker, Lukas and Christl, Marcus} } @article {2763, title = {Microbial oxidation of lithospheric organic carbon in rapidly eroding tropical mountain soils}, journal = {Science}, volume = {360}, year = {2018}, month = {Jan-04-2019}, pages = {209 - 212}, abstract = {Lithospheric organic carbon ({\textquotedblleft}petrogenic{\textquotedblright}; OCpetro) is oxidized during exhumation and subsequent erosion of mountain ranges. This process is a considerable source of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere over geologic time scales, but the mechanisms that govern oxidation rates in mountain landscapes are poorly constrained. We demonstrate that, on average, 67 {\textpm} 11\% of the OCpetro initially present in bedrock exhumed from the tropical, rapidly eroding Central Range of Taiwan is oxidized in soils, leading to CO2 emissions of 6.1 to 18.6 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer per year. The molecular and isotopic evolution of bulk OC and lipid biomarkers during soil formation reveals that OCpetro remineralization is microbially mediated. Rapid oxidation in mountain soils drives CO2 emission fluxes that increase with erosion rate, thereby counteracting CO2 drawdown by silicate weathering and biospheric OC burial.}, issn = {0036-8075}, doi = {10.1126/science.aao6463}, url = {https://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aao6463}, author = {Hemingway, Jordon D. and Hilton, Robert G. and Hovius, Niels and Eglinton, Timothy I. and Haghipour, Negar and Wacker, Lukas and Chen, Meng-Chiang and Galy, Valier V.} } @article {2692, title = {Organic Carbon Aging During Across-Shelf Transport}, journal = {Geophysical Research Letters}, volume = {45}, year = {2018}, month = {Apr-08-2020}, pages = {8425 - 8434}, abstract = {Compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA) was performed on different grain-size fractions of surficial sediments to examine and compare lateral transport times (LTTs) of organic carbon. 14C aging of long-chain leaf wax fatty acids along two dispersal pathways of fluvially-derived material on adjacent continental margins implies LTTs over distances of ~30 to 500 km that range from hundreds to thousands of years. The magnitude of aging differs among grain size fractions. Our finding suggests that LTTs vary both temporally and spatially as a function of the specific properties of different continental shelf settings. Observations suggest that 14C aging is widespread during lateral transport over continental shelves, with hydrodynamic particle sorting inducing age variations among organic components residing in different grain sizes. Consideration of these phenomena is of importance for understanding carbon cycle processes and interpretation on sedimentary records on continental margins.}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1029/2018GL078904}, url = {https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/222887698.pdf}, author = {Bao, Rui and Uchida, Masao and Zhao, Meixun and Haghipour, Negar and Montlucon, Daniel and McNichol, Ann and Wacker, Lukas and Hayes, John M. and Eglinton, Timothy I.} } @article {2805, title = {What on Earth Have We Been Burning? Deciphering Sedimentary Records of Pyrogenic CarbonWhat on Earth Have We Been Burning? Deciphering Sedimentary Records of Pyrogenic Carbon}, journal = {Environmental Science \& Technology}, volume = {51}, year = {2017}, month = {Jul-11-2017}, pages = {12972 - 12980}, abstract = {Humans have interacted with fire for thousands of years, yet the utilization of fossil fuels marked the beginning of a new era. Ubiquitous in the environment, pyrogenic carbon (PyC) arises from incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels, forming a continuum of condensed aromatic structures. Here, we develop and evaluate 14C records for two complementary PyC molecular markers, benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), preserved in aquatic sediments from a suburban and a remote catchment in the United States (U.S.) from the mid-1700s to 1998. Results show that the majority of PyC stems from local sources and is transferred to aquatic sedimentary archives on subdecadal to millennial time scales. Whereas a small portion stems from near-contemporaneous production and sedimentation, the majority of PyC (\~{}90\%) experiences delayed transmission due to {\textquotedblleft}preaging{\textquotedblright} on millennial time scales in catchment soils prior to its ultimate deposition. BPCAs (soot) and PAHs (precursors of soot) trace fossil fuel-derived PyC. Both markers parallel historical records of the consumption of fossil fuels in the U.S., yet never account for more than 19\% total PyC. This study demonstrates that isotopic characterization of multiple tracers is necessary to constrain histories and inventories of PyC and that sequestration of PyC can markedly lag its production.}, issn = {0013-936X}, doi = {10.1021/acs.est.7b03243}, url = {https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b03243}, author = {Hanke, Ulrich M. and Reddy, Christopher M. and Braun, Ana L. L. and Coppola, Alysha I. and Haghipour, Negar and McIntyre, Cameron P. and Wacker, Lukas and Xu, Li and McNichol, Ann P. and Abiven, Samuel and Schmidt, Michael W. I. and Eglinton, Timothy I.} } @article { ISI:000389875700005, title = {RAPID C-14 ANALYSIS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CARBON IN NON-SALINE WATERS}, journal = {RADIOCARBON}, volume = {58}, number = {{3}}, year = {2016}, month = {SEP}, pages = {505-515}, type = {Article}, abstract = {The radiocarbon content of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in rivers, lakes, and other non-saline waters can provide valuable information on carbon cycling dynamics in the environment. DOC is typically prepared for C-14 analysis by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) either by ultraviolet (UV) oxidation or by freeze-drying and sealed tube combustion. We present here a new method for the rapid analysis of C-14 of DOC using wet chemical oxidation (WCO) and automated headspace sampling of CO2. The approach is an adaption of recently developed methods using aqueous persulfate oxidant to determine the delta C-13 of DOC in non-saline water samples and the C-14 content of volatile organic acids. One advantage of the current method over UV oxidation is higher throughput: 22 samples and 10 processing standards can be prepared in one day and analyzed in a second day, allowing a full suite of C-14 processing standards and blanks to be run in conjunction with samples. A second advantage is that there is less potential for cross-contamination between samples.}, keywords = {carbon-cycling, dissolved organic carbon, method development, wet chemical oxidation}, issn = {0033-8222}, doi = {10.1017/RDC.2016.17}, author = {Lang, Susan Q. and McIntyre, Cameron P. and Bernasconi, Stefano M. and Fruh-Green, Gretchen L. and Voss, Britta M. and Eglinton, Timothy I. and Wacker, Lukas} } @article { ISI:000368907500001, title = {Multimolecular tracers of terrestrial carbon transfer across the pan-Arctic: C-14 characteristics of sedimentary carbon components and their environmental controls}, journal = {GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES}, volume = {29}, number = {{11}}, year = {2015}, month = {NOV}, pages = {1855-1873}, type = {Article}, abstract = {Distinguishing the sources, ages, and fate of various terrestrial organic carbon (OC) pools mobilized from heterogeneous Arctic landscapes is key to assessing climatic impacts on the fluvial release of carbon from permafrost. Through molecular C-14 measurements, including novel analyses of suberin- and/or cutin-derived diacids (DAs) and hydroxy fatty acids (FAs), we compared the radiocarbon characteristics of a comprehensive suite of terrestrial markers (including plant wax lipids, cutin, suberin, lignin, and hydroxy phenols) in the sedimentary particles from nine major arctic and subarctic rivers in order to establish a benchmark assessment of the mobilization patterns of terrestrial OC pools across the pan-Arctic. Terrestrial lipids, including suberin-derived longer-chain DAs (C-24,C-26,C-28), plant wax FAs (C(24,26,2)8), and n-alkanes (C-27,C-29,C-31), incorporated significant inputs of aged carbon, presumably from deeper soil horizons. Mobilization and translocation of these {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}old{{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright}} terrestrial carbon components was dependent on nonlinear processes associated with permafrost distributions. By contrast, shorter-chain (C-16,C-18) DAs and lignin phenols (as well as hydroxy phenols in rivers outside eastern Eurasian Arctic) were much more enriched in C-14, suggesting incorporation of relatively young carbon supplied by runoff processes from recent vegetation debris and surface layers. Furthermore, the radiocarbon content of terrestrial markers is heavily influenced by specific OC sources and degradation status. Overall, multitracer molecular C-14 analysis sheds new light on the mobilization of terrestrial OC from arctic watersheds. Our findings of distinct ages for various terrestrial carbon components may aid in elucidating fate of different terrestrial OC pools in the face of increasing arctic permafrost thaw.}, issn = {0886-6236}, doi = {10.1002/2015GB005204}, author = {Feng, Xiaojuan and Gustafsson, {\"O}rjan and Holmes, R. Max and Vonk, Jorien E. and van Dongen, Bart E. and Semiletov, Igor P. and Dudarev, Oleg V. and Yunker, Mark B. and Macdonald, Robie W. and Wacker, Lukas and Montlu{\c c}on, Daniel B. and Eglinton, Timothy I.} } @article { ISI:000309889600007, title = {Carbon isotopic (C-13 and C-14) composition of synthetic estrogens and progestogens}, journal = {RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY}, volume = {26}, number = {{22}}, year = {2012}, month = {NOV 30}, pages = {2619-2626}, type = {Article}, abstract = {RATIONALE Steroids are potent hormones that are found in many environments. Yet, contributions from synthetic and endogenous sources are largely uncharacterized. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether carbon isotopes could be used to distinguish between synthetic and endogenous steroids in wastewater and other environmental matrices. METHODS Estrogens and progestogens were isolated from oral contraceptive pills using semi-preparative liquid chromatography/diode array detection (LC/DAD). Compound purity was confirmed by gas chromatography/flame ionization detection (GC/FID), gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/TOF-MS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry using negative electrospray ionization (LC/ESI-MS). The C-13 content was determined by gas chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC/IRMS) and C-14 was measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). RESULTS Synthetic estrogens and progestogens are C-13-depleted (delta C-13(estrogen) = 30.0 +/- 0.9 parts per thousand; delta C-13(progestogen) = 30.3 +/- 2.6 parts per thousand) compared with endogenous hormones (delta C-13 similar to -16 to 26 parts per thousand). The C-14 content of the majority of synthetic hormones is consistent with synthesis from C-3 plant-based precursors, amended with {\textquoteleft}fossil{\textquoteright} carbon in the case of EE2 and norethindrone acetate. Exceptions are progestogens that contain an ethyl group at carbon position 13 and have entirely {\textquoteleft}fossil{\textquoteright} C-14 signatures. CONCLUSIONS Carbon isotope measurements have the potential to distinguish between synthetic and endogenous hormones in the environment. Our results suggest that C-13 could be used to discriminate endogenous from synthetic estrogens in animal waste, wastewater effluent, and natural waters. In contrast, C-13 and C-14 together may prove useful for tracking synthetic progestogens. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.}, issn = {0951-4198}, doi = {10.1002/rcm.6385}, author = {Griffith, David R. and Wacker, Lukas and Gschwend, Philip M. and Eglinton, Timothy I.} }