Layla M. San-Emeterio

BG Biogeosciences

The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Layla M. San-Emeterio for the poster/PICO entitled:

Pyrolysis-compound specific isotope analysis (Py-CSIA) of polymers and biopolymers: possible applications in heritage conservation (M. San-Emeterio, L.; de la Rosa, J. M.; Jiménez-Morillo, N. T.; González-Pérez, J. A.)

Click here to download the poster/PICO file.

Layla M. San-Emeterio is a PhD student at the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville, Spain (Spanish National Research Council; IRNAS-CSIC).
Her research focuses on soil organic matter carbon turnover rates in representative Mediterranean soils from southern Spain, which are highly endagered by antropogenic factors such as climate changes and inappropiate agricultural practices. By coupling conventional analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) and compound-specific isotopic analysis (Py-GC/IRMS), she sought to acquire geochemical knowlegde about the main drivers that could affect SOM structure and turnover according to SOM main biogenic components (lignin-derived phenols, aliphatic structures, n-alkanes, carbohydrates, fatty acid methyl ester).
The awarded poster presents preliminary results from the application of this analytical approach to complex samples from different origin and expertise fields. Challenges due to environmental and analytical uncertainty are also presented in terms of the technique used, in order to prove its suitability.