Using Synchrotron Based X-ray Raman for Climate Change Research

Understanding stabilization mechanism of organic carbon (OC) in soil is important to contribute meaningfully to climate change debate. Whether rise in global temperature would enhance or inhibit carbon sequestration by soil is not yet resolved by Earth System models. Lack of appropriate techniques for in-situ characterization of OC in unaltered bulk soils is one of the primary reasons for this knowledge gap. To this end we have used X-ray Raman for studying carbon chemistry in wet/hydrated soils from arctic, temperate, and tropical environments. We have achieved an energy resolution of 0.55 eV at sector 20-ID at Advanced Photon Source using Si 311 crystal analyzers, which allowed us to distinguish important C-moieties necessary for understanding soil carbon chemistry.