Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/flame ionization detection analysis of three Antarctic soils

Abstract

The research presented herein used pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to characterize potential parent organic materials for three Antarctic podzols and statistically compare the parent materials to soil organic matter (SOM) depth profiles. Pyrolysis-GC/flame ionization detection (FID) was used to quantify the relative percentage of a suite of biochemical compounds in the various horizons of three soils as well as potential parent organic materials consisting of mosses, algae and penguin guano. Pyrolysis-GC/FID was not used to classify and quantify all compounds in the soil pyrolysate, nor could it be used to describe the full nature of the soil organic material prior to pyrolysis. The method did, however, provide a powerful tool for correlating the various soils with parent organic materials and with each other in order to elucidate SOM transformation and translocation processes. The data suggested a general migration of polysaccharides and probably some amino carbohydrates in the Antarctic podzols and an impact of soil texture on preservation and transformation of the organic matter. Recent vegetation also appeared to affect the SOM in the topsoils to a greater extent than the organic matter derived from the parent materials of penguin guano.