Humifizierung und Zersetzung und ihre Bestimmung in Torfen, Stallmisten und anderen organischen Bildungen .

Springer, U.; Qrodzinska, W.

doi:10.1002/jpln.19400180302

Cited by 29 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 20 publications

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“…Melin and Odén (1916) probably developed one of the first quantitative colorimetric approaches for the determination of the degree of peat humification, resulting in a relative value obtained by comparing the colour intensity of the alkali (NaOH) extract at boiling temperature of a sample with that of a standard preparation (Acidus huminicum, by Merck). This method was criticized by Springer (1940), who proposed the ratio, in %, between acetyl bromide insoluble C and total organic C or, in samples poor in ash, the ratio of insoluble organic material to the loss of ignition (LOI). Some of the oversimplifications of these methods were later overlooked by Kaila (1956) who used diluted sodium pyrophosphate (0.025 M) to extract, from 220 peat samples, in a semi-quantitative way, the dark-coloured products of decomposition; the colour intensity of filtered and diluted extracts was then measured using a colorimeter (with a monochromatic light filter having a transmission peak at 550 nm), resulting in the well-known pyrophosphate index.…”

Section: Determining the Degree Of Humification In Peat: An Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in the determination of humification degree in peat since : Applications in geochemical and paleoenvironmental studies

Zaccone

Plaza

Ciavatta

et al. 2018

Earth-Science Reviews

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The humification process is one of the least understood and most intriguing aspects of humus chemistry and vital to the global carbon (C) cycle. Peatlands represent the largest terrestrial reservoirs of organic C and support a unique biodiversity, but are also natural archives of climate and environmental changes. In fact, cores from ombrotrophic peatlands are commonly used to reconstruct environmental impacts by human activities during the past decades, centuries and millennia. Understanding the extent to which bogs may serve as reliable archives is of paramount importance in order to ensure that chronological information about natural and human-induced environmental changes are effectively preserved in peat deposits rather than irretrievably affected by humification. Structural changes of the organic matter which constitutes peat are often evaluated by various indirect measures of the degree of humification.Numerous methods and proxies have been proposed and used during the last century, often providing contrasting or inconsistent results. Here we tested multiple physical, chemical, spectroscopic and thermal approaches using peat samples collected from nine bogs on four continents. Despite the different climatic conditions, botanical composition, depth and age of peat formation, we show that the H/C ratio is the simplest, most widely valid and cost-effective humification proxy and should find universal application to multi-proxy geochemical and paleoenvironmental studies. Moreover, we show that three-quarters of the organic C in the studied bogs is in a comparatively undecomposed state, and thus vulnerable to climate changes.

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Section: Determining the Degree Of Humification In Peat: An Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%