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Sulfate reduction in Georgia salt marsh soils: An evaluation of pyrite formation by use of 35 S and 55 Fe tracers 1
Author(s) -
King Gary M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1983.28.5.0987
Subject(s) - aqua regia , pyrite , spartina alterniflora , soil water , sulfate , chemistry , environmental chemistry , podzol , incubation , salt marsh , botany , mineralogy , marsh , geology , soil science , ecology , biology , metal , wetland , biochemistry , organic chemistry
A time‐course analysis of sulfate reduction in Sapelo Island marsh soils using 35 SO 4 2‒ indicated that acid‐volatile H 2 35 S formation was a linear function of time for the 0–12‐cm depth interval of both tall and short Spartina alterniflora soils. Aqua regia‐soluble 35 S was present in significant amounts at all depths in both sites in killed controls and did not increase significantly during a 72‐h incubation. The activity of 35 S in aqua regia digests of marsh soils was dependent on the type of acid used to distill H 2 35 S before aqua regia digestion; the greatest activity was with 6 N HCl and the least was with 1 N H 3 PO 4 . No consistent formation of [ 55 Fe]pyrite was observed during a 72‐h incubation of 55 Fe in short S. alterniflora soils. These data indicate that the incorporation of 35 S into aqua regia‐soluble compounds was at least in part an artifact of the distillation procedure and that the use of aqua regia‐soluble 35 S to calculate sulfate reduction rates could result in a significant overestimation of this process.