Pre-industrial particulate emissions and carbon sequestration from biomass burning in North America
Spatial trends in pre-industrial biomass burning emissions for eastern North America were reconstructed from sediment charcoal data. Petrographic thin sections were prepared from varved lake sediments along a transect of sites extending from NW Minnesota eastward to NE Maine. Results showed an exponential decline in charcoal abundance with distance east from the prairie/forest border. This result quantifies burning along the broad climate/vegetation gradient from xeric woodland to mesic eastern deciduous forest. Post-settlement charcoal accumulation showed no such geographic pattern, varying from site-to-site, likely reflecting local variability in land use and combustion sources. Results suggest the total emissions of large (> 10 μm diameter) charcoal particles decreased by a factor of three during the twentieth century. © 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
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Related Subject Headings
- Agronomy & Agriculture
- 4104 Environmental management
- 3703 Geochemistry
- 0502 Environmental Science and Management
- 0402 Geochemistry
- 0399 Other Chemical Sciences
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Agronomy & Agriculture
- 4104 Environmental management
- 3703 Geochemistry
- 0502 Environmental Science and Management
- 0402 Geochemistry
- 0399 Other Chemical Sciences