Investigations of the dynamics of soil humus utilizing carbon dating techniques

Citable Link(s)
http://hdl.handle.net/10217/88194Altmetrics
Abstract
The radioactivity of naturally occurring C14 in soil humus when compared to the C14 activity of a standard of recent origin (carbon dating) can be used to estimate the mean residence time of the soil humus in studying problems in soil genesis, fertility and biochemistry. The apparent mean residence time of humus from a Black Chernozemic soil was approximately 1,000 years. The C14 activity of "Humin" and "Humic Acids" isolated from this soil was lower than that obtained from the whole soil. The fulvic acids, however, had a substantially higher activity and a corresponding lower mean residence ...
(For more, see "View full record.")