Untitled Document Originally published in Pedological Perspectives in Archaeological Research. SSSA Special Publication 44. Previous studies demonstrate that charcoal is biologically recycled at a slow, but measurable rate, and that the rate of biochemical degradation of the carbonized organic matter varies within the specific physical and environmental contexts of the sample. These variables are measured by soil texture and depth below the soil surface, the site-specific mean annual temperature and rainfall, percentage of total C, and the soil pH. Residual influences on this system are included through a statistically derived constant.
Outliers define how river inundation and poor sample preparations adversely affect the results.
This procedure is expanded to measuring the OCR of relatively stable residual organic matter, and to date the age of buried soil horizons. The OCR-dating procedure accounts for the interdependent dynamics of climate, biota, parent material, and time, providing an empirical test of Jenny's model for pedogenesis.