Regional Syntheses of Radiocarbon & Aquatic Carbon Fluxes
International Soil Radiocarbon Database
Our group is actively involved with the International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD) community, where scientists around the world contribute to a living repository for radiocarbon data collected in soil systems.
Wetlands and peatlands make up one-third of entered data in ISRaD (circles in map; left) and our group is working to incorporate more wetland measurements into the database as well as measurements made in adjacent freshwaters.
Collaboration with: Derrick Vaughn (USU) and ISRaD community
von Fromm, Winton, Vaughn, Bowen et al. (2026). The International Soil Radiocarbon Database (ISRaD) version 2: Synthesis, data gaps, and future directions of soil radiocarbon data. ESSD, 18, 5793–5815.
Aquatic Signals of Land Disturbance
Wetlands, and especially peatlands, accumulate soil carbon over centuries to millennia from waterlogged conditions that slow decomposition rates. Anthropogenic disturbances, like deforestation and drainage, can destabilize this carbon and result in soil carbon loss to freshwaters. Measures of the radiocarbon composition of dissolved carbon can provide insight on this disturbance, but controls on the radiocarbon age of carbon mobilized is poorly understood.
To address this gap, our work has shown that streams and canals adjacent to disturbed peatlands are a hotspot for the loss of aged carbon to the atmosphere (right). We are also currently synthesizing the radiocarbon signatures of carbon in freshwaters around the world to address this gap.
Bowen et al. (2024). Aquatic processing enhances the loss of aged carbon from drained and burned peatlands. Global Change Biology, 30(7), e17394.
Riggs* et al. (2026). Investigating freshwater radiocarbon signature as an indicator for soil disturbance. Southeastern Biogeochemistry Symposium, Atlanta GA.
