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Composition and Cycling of Organic Carbon in Soil

  • Chapter
Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 10))

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) represents a significant reservoir of carbon within the global carbon cycle that has been estimated to account for 1,200–1,550 Pg C to a depth of 1 m and for 2370–2450 Pg C to a depth of 2 m (Eswaran et al. 1995; Lal 2004a). Comparative estimates of organic C contained in living biomass (560 Pg) and atmospheric CO2-C (760 Pg) (Lal 2004a) indicate that variations in the size of the SOC store could significantly alter atmospheric CO2-C concentrations. A 5% shift in the amount of SOC stored in the 0–2 m soil profile has the potential to alter atmospheric CO2-C by up to 16%.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia

    Jeffrey A. Baldock

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  1. Jeffrey A. Baldock
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  1. Soil and Land Systems, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, DP 636, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    Petra Marschner

  2. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, M087 School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Zdenko Rengel

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Baldock, J.A. (2007). Composition and Cycling of Organic Carbon in Soil. In: Marschner, P., Rengel, Z. (eds) Nutrient Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems. Soil Biology, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68027-7_1

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