Xu Xiaomei

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Xu
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Xiaomei
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  • Article
    Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf
    (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2018-01-17) Sparrow, Katy J. ; Kessler, John D. ; Southon, John R. ; Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix ; Schreiner, Kathryn M. ; Ruppel, Carolyn D. ; Miller, John B. ; Lehman, Scott J. ; Xu, Xiaomei
    In response to warming climate, methane can be released to Arctic Ocean sediment and waters from thawing subsea permafrost and decomposing methane hydrates. However, it is unknown whether methane derived from this sediment storehouse of frozen ancient carbon reaches the atmosphere. We quantified the fraction of methane derived from ancient sources in shelf waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea, a region that has both permafrost and methane hydrates and is experiencing significant warming. Although the radiocarbon-methane analyses indicate that ancient carbon is being mobilized and emitted as methane into shelf bottom waters, surprisingly, we find that methane in surface waters is principally derived from modern-aged carbon. We report that at and beyond approximately the 30-m isobath, ancient sources that dominate in deep waters contribute, at most, 10 ± 3% of the surface water methane. These results suggest that even if there is a heightened liberation of ancient carbon–sourced methane as climate change proceeds, oceanic oxidation and dispersion processes can strongly limit its emission to the atmosphere.
  • Article
    Blank assessment for ultra-small radiocarbon samples : chemical extraction and separation versus AMS
    (Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 2010-08) Santos, Guaciara M. ; Southon, John R. ; Drenzek, Nicholas J. ; Ziolkowski, Lori A. ; Druffel, Ellen R. M. ; Xu, Xiaomei ; Zhang, Dachun ; Trumbore, Susan E. ; Eglinton, Timothy I. ; Hughen, Konrad A.
    The Keck Carbon Cycle AMS facility at the University of California, Irvine (KCCAMS/UCI) has developed protocols for analyzing radiocarbon in samples as small as ~0.001 mg of carbon (C). Mass-balance background corrections for modern and 14C-dead carbon contamination (MC and DC, respectively) can be assessed by measuring 14C-free and modern standards, respectively, using the same sample processing techniques that are applied to unknown samples. This approach can be validated by measuring secondary standards of similar size and 14C composition to the unknown samples. Ordinary sample processing (such as ABA or leaching pretreatment, combustion/graphitization, and handling) introduces MC contamination of ~0.6 ± 0.3 μg C, while DC is ~0.3 ± 0.15 μg C. Today, the laboratory routinely analyzes graphite samples as small as 0.015 mg C for external submissions and ≅0.001 mg C for internal research activities with a precision of ~1% for ~0.010 mg C. However, when analyzing ultra-small samples isolated by a series of complex chemical and chromatographic methods (such as individual compounds), integrated procedural blanks may be far larger and more variable than those associated with combustion/graphitization alone. In some instances, the mass ratio of these blanks to the compounds of interest may be so high that the reported 14C results are meaningless. Thus, the abundance and variability of both MC and DC contamination encountered during ultra-small sample analysis must be carefully and thoroughly evaluated. Four case studies are presented to illustrate how extraction chemistry blanks are determined.