Iron isotopes in a soil chronosequence: evidence of fractionation due to biological lifting of iron
Abstract
The evolution of iron distribution with landform exposure time was studied in a marine terrace chronosequence northwest of Santa Cruz, California. The abundance of soil Fe increases with terrace age on the five terraces studied (65 to 226 Ka). Mass change calculations for Fe, indicate that not only is iron concentrated near the surface but, it is also depleted at depths >1.5m. The surficial Fe concentration cannot be fully accounted for by weathering and compaction of the soil profile or by the addition of iron content through eolian deposition to the soils. The terrace regoliths were generally unsaturated and aerobic, thus lateral movement of large amounts of dissolved reduced iron is unlikely. We propose that plant roots and symbiotic fungi (mycorrhizae) have transported iron from deep within the regolith to the shallow soil through the process of biolifting. Iron is a plant micronutrient; and unlike other mineral nutrients, it is relatively insoluble in aerobic soil solutions. Once Fe is released from decaying organic matter, the Fe-oxides are incorporated into the shallow soil. The Fe content of the current grassland vegetation was measured and yearly biomass Fe uptake calculated. The yearly cycling of plant-utilized Fe in above ground biomass multiplied by the age of the terrace is roughly equivalent to the shallow iron content of these soils. It has been shown that plants which use the strategy I Fe uptake process fractionate light Fe (Guelke and Von Blankenburg, ES&T, p1896; 2007). To test the biolifting hypothesis, Fe isotope ratios were determined for bulk soil samples from several soil depths of terraces 1 through 3 and terrace 5. The shallow soils generally have increasingly lighter δ56/54Fe with terrace age. The δ 56/54Fe values at 10cm soil depth are: 0.546, 0.628 0.381 and 0.182. The deep soil samples (>3 m) have a relatively constant isotopic composition ranging from 0.595 to 0.678 δ 56/54Fe. The deep sample ratios are between the values of the known source rocks for these sediments. However, grass plants utilize the strategy II process of Fe uptake which does not isotopically fractionate Fe. The Fe isotope composition of these soils is indicative of a forest or chaparral ecosystem existing on the terraces previous to the present grassland.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFMEP53C0630S
- Keywords:
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- 0414 BIOGEOSCIENCES / Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling;
- 1852 HYDROLOGY / Plant uptake;
- 1865 HYDROLOGY / Soils