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The Influence of Soil Moisture, Temperature and Oxygen on the Oxic Decay of Organic Archaeological Deposits
Author(s) -
Hollesen J.,
Matthiesen H.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
archaeometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-4754
pISSN - 0003-813X
DOI - 10.1111/arcm.12094
Subject(s) - moisture , water content , decomposition , environmental science , soil science , oxygen , mineralogy , environmental chemistry , geology , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry
The sensitivity of organic‐rich archaeological layers at B ryggen in B ergen, N orway, to changes in soil temperatures, water contents and oxygen concentrations is investigated. This is done by linking measurements of oxic decay at varying temperatures and water contents with on‐site monitoring data using a one‐pool decomposition model. The results show that the model can be used to elucidate the current in situ decay and to evaluate where and when the decay takes place. Future investigations need to include long‐term incubation experiments and decay studies at zero or very low oxygen contents in order to improve the robustness of predictions.