Around 59% of carbon dioxide released by rivers originates from reservoirs that contain ancient carbon. This carbon exhibits low levels of the radioactive isotope carbon-14, leading to potential misidentification as fossil fuel carbon. The current atmosphere's high proportion of old carbon complicates the evaluation of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. Current assessments typically assume that natural carbon sources possess higher levels of carbon-14, so the presence of this old carbon may skew our understanding of carbon source attribution.
A significant 59% of carbon dioxide released by rivers comes from ancient carbon reservoirs that have low carbon-14 levels, complicating assessments of anthropogenic CO₂.
The presence of high proportions of old carbon in today's atmosphere could lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the sources of carbon emissions, especially fossil fuels.
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