| 英文摘要: | Iron (Fe) is the fourth most abundant element on Earth and a critical nutrient for all life (from microorganisms to humans). Iron minerals are an important part of our lives: they are part of the soil beneath our feet; the rust on our cars; the hard drives in our computers; and the rocks on Earth and Mars. These tiny, often nanoscale, particles are responsible for most of the red, yellow, green, and black colors around us and they profoundly influence the quality of our water, air, and soil through biologically-driven redox cycling between oxidized ferric iron (Fe3+) and reduced ferrous iron (Fe2+). These Fe minerals trap much of the organic carbon (C) in soils and sediments and can also take the place of oxygen in anaerobic respiration, oxidizing and mineralizing organic matter to CO2 in anoxic soils and sediments. Increasing concerns about carbon driven climate change provides strong motivation to better understand the coupling between Fe and C processes that govern storage of carbon (C) in soils and sediments. The research findings from this work will benefit society by providing important insights into terrestrial response to climate change, as well as water quality preservation (such as arsenic release), and engineered water treatment systems. This project will provide authentic research experiences for individuals from groups underrepresented in the sciences at the upper high school (HS) and undergraduate (UG) levels. This will be accom-plished by involving long-term UG researchers in the project; providing HS junior and seniors from schools with historically low-college enrollment opportunities to participate in authentic summer research activities; and providing direct faculty-student instruction for HS and UG students as part of a ?Scale-Matters? workshop and Summer Soil Institute.
The overall goal of this research project is to understand the complex redox dynamics between Fe and organic C soils and sediments. In reducing environments, dissolved Fe2+ can catalyze Fe oxides to recrystallize into new mineral phases with similar or drastically different chemical properties. This process, Fe2+- catalyzed recrystallization, has been observed for pure Fe phases, but has yet to be explored as a pathway for mobilizing (or sequestering) organic C. Additionally, the presence of organic C is also likely to alter the recrystallization process with important implications for the Fe reactivity and isotope fractionation. The investigators will investigate how Fe2+- catalyzed recrystallization influences organic C and Fe mineral reactivity. To do this, the investigators will conduct a series of Fe isotope tracer experiments to quantify the extent of Fe2+- catalyzed recrystallization in model Fe-C assemblages synthesized from a range of Fe oxides and diversity of natural organic matter. Changes in Fe oxide susceptibility to microbial and chemical dissolution will be measured, along with Fe isotopic fractionation, and C availability following recrystallization of the Fe-C assemblages. |