Articles | Volume 12, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1849-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1849-2015
Research article
 | 
20 Mar 2015
Research article |  | 20 Mar 2015

Pyrogenic carbon from tropical savanna burning: production and stable isotope composition

G. Saiz, J. G. Wynn, C. M. Wurster, I. Goodrick, P. N. Nelson, and M. I. Bird

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Cited articles

Alden, C. B., Miller, J. B., and White, J. W. C.: Can bottom-up ocean CO2 fluxes be reconciled with atmospheric 13C observations?, Tellus B, 62, 369–388, 2010.
Andreae, M. O. and Merlet, P.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 15, 955–966, 2001.
Ascough, P. L., Bird, M. I., Brock, F., Higham, T. F. G., Meredith, W., Snape, C. E., and Vane, C. H.: Hydropyrolysis as a new tool for radiocarbon pre-treatment and the quantification of black carbon., Quaternary Geochronol., 4, 140–147, 2009.
Bird, M. I. and Ascough, P. L.: Isotopes in pyrogenic carbon: A review, Org. Geochem., 42, 1529–1539, 2012.
Bird, M. I. and Cali, J. A.: A million-year record of fire in sub-Saharan Africa, Nature, 394, 767–769, 1998.
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Short summary
Around half of all pyrogenic carbon (charcoal+soot) derived from wildfires comes from semi-annual burning of tropical savannas. This pyrogenic carbon is significant because it is a component of global aerosols capable of modulating the greenhouse effect and is resistant to degradation. We use controlled field burns in northern Australian savannas to determine how much pyrogenic carbon is formed, how much of this is recalcitrant and how it is partitioned between ground residues and airborne soot.
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