Articles | Volume 12, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3789-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3789-2015
Research article
 | 
22 Jun 2015
Research article |  | 22 Jun 2015

The contribution of tephra constituents during biogenic silica determination: implications for soil and palaeoecological studies

W. Clymans, L. Barão, N. Van der Putten, S. Wastegård, G. Gísladóttir, S. Björck, B. Moine, E. Struyf, and D. J. Conley

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AR by W. Clymans on behalf of the Authors (21 May 2015)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Publish as is (23 May 2015) by Yakov Kuzyakov
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Short summary
Biogenic silica (BSi) is used as a proxy by soil scientists to identify biological effects on the Si cycle and by palaeoecologists to study environmental changes. We show the presence of tephra constituents can make measurements erroneous at low BSi concentrations, with repercussions for soil and palaeoecological studies. However, we also show that glass shards do not produce an identical dissolution signal to that of BSi, meaning they can be distinguished with appropriate experimental setups.
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