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Soil carbon is the generic name for carbon held within the soil, primarily in association with its organic content. Soil carbon is the largest terrestrial pool of carbon, containing 2,200 gigatonnes (Gt) of it. Humans increasingly influence the size of this pool. Soil carbon plays a key role in the carbon cycle, and thus it is important in global climate models.
Although the figure is frequently being revised upwards with new discoveries, over 2,700 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon is stored in soils worldwide, which is well above the combined total of atmosphere (780 Gt) or biomass (575 Gt), most of which is wood. Carbon is taken out of the atmosphere by plant photosynthesis; about 60 Gt annually is incorporated into various types of soil organic matter (SOM), including surface litter; about 60 Gt annually is respired or oxidized from soil.
Soil carbon is the last major pool of the carbon cycle. The carbon that is fixed by plants is transferred to the soil via dead plant matter, including dead roots, leaves, and fruiting bodies. This dead organic matter creates a substrate which decomposes and respires back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide or methane, depending on the availability of oxygen in the soil. Soil carbon is also oxidized by combustion and returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Soil carbon is primarily composed of biomass and non-biomass sources. Biomass carbon includes various bacteria and fungi. Non-biomass carbon sources or substrates reflect the chemical composition of plant biomass, and primarily include cellulose, starch, lignin, and other diverse organic carbon compounds. Some of the substrate carbon binds to the mineral soil, becoming encapsulated in soil aggregates (singular masses of coherent soil particles, or peds) or chemical complexional.
Biomass feeds on the substrate carbon compounds at different rates. Some of the carbon compounds are easily digested and respired by the microbes, resulting in a relatively short residence time. Others—like lignin, humic acid, or substrate encapsulated in soil aggregates—are very difficult for the biomass to absorb and have long residence times.
Soil carbon and soil health
It is widely accepted that the carbon content of soil is a major factor in its overall health. Soil carbon improves the physical properties of soil. It increases the cation-exchange capacity (CEC) and water-holding capacity of sandy soil, and it contributes to the structural stability of clay soils by helping to bind particles into aggregates. SOM, of which carbon is a major part, holds a great proportion of nutrients cations and trace elements that are of importance to plant growth. It prevents nutrient leaching, and is integral to the organic acids that make minerals available to plants. It also buffers soil from strong changes in pH.
Losses of soil carbon
The exchange of carbon between soils and the atmosphere is a significant part of the world carbon cycle. Carbon, as it relates to the organic matter of soils, is a major component of soil and catchment health. Several factors affect the variation that exists in soil organic matter and soil carbon; the most significant has, in contemporary times, been the influence of humans and agricultural systems.
Although exact quantities are difficult to measure, human activities have caused massive losses of soil organic carbon. First was the use of fire, which removes soil cover and leads to immediate and continuing losses of soil organic carbon. Tillage and drainage both expose soil organic matter to oxygen and oxidation. In the Netherlands, East Anglia, Florida, and the California Delta, subsidence of peat lands from oxidation has been severe as a result of tillage and drainage. Grazing management that exposes soil (through either excessive or insufficient recovery periods) can also cause losses of soil organic.
Managing soil carbon
Natural variations in SOM occur as a result of climate, organisms, parent material, time, and relief. The greatest contemporary influence has been that of humans; for example, historical SOM in Australian agricultural soils may have been twice the present range that is typically from 1.6 to 4.6 per cent.
It has long been encouraged that farmers adjust practices to maintain or increase the organic component in the soil. On one hand, practices that hasten oxidation of carbon (such as burning crop stubbles or over-cultivation) are discouraged; on the other hand, incorporation of organic material (such as in manuring) has been encouraged. Increasing soil carbon is not a straightforward matter; it is made complex by the relative activity of soil biota, which can consume and release carbon and are made more active by the addition of nitrogen fertilizers.
Data available on soil organic carbon
The most homogeneous and comprehensive data on the organic carbon/matter content of European soils remain those that can be extracted and/or derived from the European Soil Database in combination with associated databases on land cover, climate, and topography. The modelled data refer to carbon content (%) in the surface horizon of soils in Europe. In an inventory on available national datasets, seven member states of the European Union have available datasets on organic carbon. In the article "Estimating soil organic carbon in Europe based on data collected through an European network" (Ecological Indicators 24, pp. 439-450), a comparison of national data with modelled data is performed. Finally, a new proposed model for estimation of soil organic carbon in agricultural soils has estimated current top SOC stock of 17.63 Gt in EU agricultural soils.
Managing for catchment health
Much of the contemporary literature on soil carbon relates to its role, or potential, as an atmospheric carbon sink to offset climate change. Despite this emphasis, a much wider range of soil and catchment health aspects are improved as soil carbon is increased. These benefits are difficult to quantify, due to the complexity of natural resource systems and the interpretation of what constitutes soil health; nonetheless, several benefits are proposed in the following points:
- Reduced erosion, sedimentation: increased soil aggregate stability means greater resistance to erosion; mass movement is less likely when soils are able to retain structural strength under greater moisture levels.
- Greater productivity: healthier and more productive soils can contribute to positive socio-economic circumstances.
- Cleaner waterways, nutrients and turbidity: nutrients and sediment tend to be retained by the soil rather than leach or wash off, and are so kept from waterways.
- Water balance: greater soil water holding capacity reduces overland flow and recharge to groundwater; the water saved and held by the soil remains available for use by plants.
- Climate change: Soils have the ability to retain carbon that may otherwise exist as atmospheric CO2 and contribute to global warming.
- Greater biodiversity: soil organic matter contributes to the health of soil flora and, accordingly, the natural links with biodiversity in the greater biosphere.
Forest soils constitute a large pool of carbon. Anthropogenic activities such as deforestation cause releases of carbon from this pool, which may significantly increase the concentration of greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries must estimate and report GHG emissions and removals, including changes in carbon stocks in all five pools (above- and below-ground biomass, dead wood, litter, and soil carbon) and associated emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry activities, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's good practice guidance. Tropical deforestation represents nearly 25 percent of total anthropogenic GHG emissions worldwide. Deforestation, forest degradation, and changes in land management practices can cause releases of carbon from soil to the atmosphere. For these reasons, reliable estimates of soil organic carbon stock and stock changes are needed for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and GHG reporting under the UNFCCC.
The government of Tanzania—together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the financial support of the government of Finland—have implemented a forest soil carbon monitoring program to estimate soil carbon stock, using both survey and modelling-based methods.
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