Chemi-Thermal Isolation of Recalcitrant Soil Organic Carbon and Coal-Derived Carbon From a Minesoil Chronosequence.

Soil organic carbon, sequestered in reclaimed minesoils is one of the major terrestrial carbon sequestration activities that may be used to offset greenhouse gas emissions.  Research has shown that with increasing time since reclamation, reclaimed minesoils can sequester significant amount of carbon. However, due to presence of coal in reclaimed minesoils it becomes difficult to distinguish soil organic carbon (SOC) from coal-derived carbon and hence to quantify SOC and carbon sequestration potential of reclaimed minesoils. In this study we aim to isolate different fractions of SOC including (i) recalcitrant SOC, (ii) mineral-bound SOC and (iii) coal-derived SOC from a reclaimed minesoil chronosequence in West Virginia. The isolation protocol involves sequential removal of various SOC fractions using acid hydrolysis, mineral dissolution and heat. Residual carbon after each step will be quantified by complete combustion and spectroscopic techniques to identify molecular characteristics of each SOC fraction.