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SFB 806 F3: Black Carbon in Soils as an Indicator for Human-Environment Interactions in the Last 190,000 years
Project
Project code: DFG SFB 806
Contract period: 01.01.2009
- 31.12.2009
Purpose of research: Basic research
The F3 project focuses on the relation of human population dynamics with fire. Changes in climate, vegetation and land use frequently went along with regional burning events. On the other hand, from a point of time, yet unknown and certainly long before the beginning of the Neolithic age, fire became an important means of human impact on landscapes. Left behind was black carbon (BC) from incomplete combustion. This project aims at utilising the contents and properties of BC as an indicator for past burning conditions. Sequential oxidation procedures followed by mid-infrared spectroscopy, biomarker and isotope analyses will be applied to different chars and field samples in order to elucidate (1) which charring conditions can be deduced from BC characterisation, (2) how old the BC in soils and sediments is, and (3) when and under which climatic, vegetation and land use conditions burning events were most frequent.
Section overview
Subjects
- Soil science
- Agricultural Sociology
- Climate Change