Title
Organic carbon is mostly stored in deep soil and only affected by land use in its superficial layers: A case study
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Dubeux J.C.B.
Souza T.C.d.
Mackowiak C.
Wright D.
George S.
Pires T.
Santos E.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Publisher(s)
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Abstract
Soils are the largest terrestrial C pool on Earth. However, most studies only investigated soil organic carbon (SOC) storage on surface soils layers. This has resulted in lack of knowledge on SOC dynamics in deep soil layers despite the fact that they contain a significant portion of the stored organic C. This study assessed how contrasting land uses and agronomic practices affect SOC stocks up to a 5-m depth, and investigated superficial SOC concentration, and particle and density fractionation in a case study in the U.S. Southeastern Plains. On average, deep (90–500 cm) SOC accounted for 80% of total organic C across the investigated land-use systems. A close relation between SOC concentration and Mehlich-3 extractable Al and Fe concentration in deep soil samples suggested that non-crystalline metals play a key role stabilizing deep SOC in this system. Land use had a significant effect only on superficial SOC concentration, and light, heavy, and mineral associated organic C within micro and macroaggregates. Soils from native vegetation, and non-irrigated sod-based rotation plots showed greater concentrations of SOC in almost all assessed micro and macroaggregates fractions, whereas those from the conventional crop rotation and irrigated sod-based rotation plots showed lower SOC concentration in all assessed fractions.
Volume
4
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias del medio ambiente
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85118147139
Source
Agrosystems, Geosciences and Environment
Source funding
University of Florida
Sponsor(s)
We acknowledge the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences research office for providing the seed grant to cover the costs of laboratory analyses.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus