C-14 dating of charcoal in the soil for the study of biological remount ofsoil matter and of the colluvium in the formation of ferralsols of Sao Paulo State, southern Brazil

This paper complements a scientific investigation, published in a precedent Compte Rendu, that showed that the burial of charcoal in a oxisol of the M inas Gerais Slate, southern Brazil, is a result of the biological remount o f soil matter removed from deeper parts by the fauna. Such transported mate rial would then constitute the soil layer containing charcoal (generally up to 2 m). The new results obtained at two sites in Sao Paulo State confirm, on the one hand, the role of the fauna in the development of these oxisols and, on the other hand, that colluvium can intervene in the burial of char coal. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences / Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.