Evaluation of carbon isotope fractionation of soil CO2 under an advective–diffusive regimen: A tool for computing the isotopic composition of unfractionated deep source

A physical model based on the advective–diffusion theory was developed in order to describe the mixing between a deep gas source and the atmosphere. The model was used to predict the isotopic fractionation of carbon in soil CO2. Gas samples were collected at different depths in areas characterized by different geological settings and CO2 fluxes. The relative theoretical and experimental isotopic profiles were compared and a good agreement was found. These profiles show how the isotopic composition of CO2 changes through the upper few decimeters of soil and how the amount of the isotopic fractionation is strongly influenced by soil CO2 flux. Finally, the model was used to derive the carbon isotopic composition of unfractioned deep CO2 source for all the investigated sites.