Variation of δ13C in karst soil in Yaji Karst Experiment Site,Guilin

This study deals with δ13C variation in karst soil system of Yaji Karst Experiment Site, Guilin, a typical region of humid subtropical karst formations. Samples of near ground air, plant tissue, soil and water (soil solution and karst spring) were respectively collected on site in different seasons during 1996-1999. Considerable variation of δ13C values are not only found with different carbon pools of soil organic carbon, soil air CO2 and soil water HCO-3, but also with the soil depths and with different seasons during a year.The δ13C values of CO2 both of near ground air and soil air are lower in July than those in April by 1%-4‰ PDB. Our results indicate that the δ13C values of carbon in the water and air are essentially dependent on interface carbon interaction of air-plant--soil-rock--water governed by soil organic carbon and soil CO2 in the system.