Sources of strontium and calcium in desert soil and calcrete

The carbon-cycle significance of soil carbonate fluxes is subject to large uncertainties because it is not clear precisely how much calcium is derived from atmospheric sources compared with that from the chemical weathering of silicate minerals. In the petrocalcic horizon (calcrete) of a Pleistocene soil from the USDA–SCS Desert Project area near Las Cruces, NM, approximately 1.5 g Ca/cm3 has been added, with an associated expansion of the profile of ∼200%. Strontium isotope values for the labile cations and carbonate from the A, B and K soil horizons have 87Sr/86Sr values that range from 0.7087 to 0.7093, similar to the values for easily soluble local dust and rain. The parent material, non-calcareous Camp Rice alluvial sediment, has a 87Sr/86Sr ratio of ∼0.7165. Mixing calculations indicate a minimum atmospheric contribution to soil carbonate calcium of ∼94%; the more likely scenarios indicate at least 98% of the Ca originated from atmospheric input. The variations in 87Sr/86Sr ratios of soil silicate (0.7131 to 0.7173) are consistent with weathering of volcanogenic sediments and neoformation of clay minerals in the petrocalcic horizon. Moreover, the Sr isotope data suggest that 50–70% of silicate in the uppermost 25 cm of the profile could be atmosphere-derived. The isotopic composition of labile strontium in the A horizon and the mass distribution of silicon and calcium indicate that the uppermost portion of the profile is the present zone for the release of cations due to silicate weathering. Steady-state models of the whole profile yield a Sr weathering flux ranging from ∼200 to 400 μg cm−2 Ma−1. The results indicate that both the present-day and long-term contribution of calcium from silicate weathering is less than 2% of that supplied from the atmosphere, and confirm that desert soil formation is not a significant sink for atmospheric carbon.