Extraction of Phytoliths from Modern Plants

Patra, Sutapa (2015) Extraction of Phytoliths from Modern Plants. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

PDF (MS dissertation of Sutapa Patra (10MS58)) Sutapa_Patra-10MS58.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (1MB)

Abstract

Phytolith is non-degradable microscopic siliceous particle formed within plants. Phytolith analysis can be a good tool for examining both the paleoenvironment and archeological records. A number of established methods have been employed to extract phytoliths from plant material including wet oxidation, dry ash and microwave digestion. However, there is a clear lack of study to understand the preservation of morphological and isotopic characteristics of phytolith extracted by various methods. In this study an attempt has been made to investigate the difference in δ13C value of phytolith occluded carbon obtained from different extraction methods of a homogeneous bulk sample. Extraction of phytolith has been done on modern plant leafs (two C3, two C4 plants) by different methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation has also been carried out to check the shape of phytoliths and residue after extraction from leaves. The idea of this study is to find out the best method of phytolith extraction in terms of yield, purity and preservation of the isotopic signature. The result shows that recovery of phytolith is pure in wet oxidation b (H2SO4/H2O2) method. 13C NMR data also shows the nature of carbon resides inside the phytolith is dominate by lipids. The δ13C values of extracted phytolith will provide crucial information in terms of isotopic preservation using various extraction methods.

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