Organic carbon stocks in the Russian Chernozem

Summary Chernozems (Mollisols) play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but their contribution to the global carbon stock is often underestimated. We have estimated stocks of organic carbon in the upper 2 m in the Russian Chernozem (Haplic Chernozem) under four management regimes: a native...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	European journal of soil science 2006-06, Vol.57 (3), p.330-336
Main Authors:	Mikhailova, E. A., Post, C. J.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions Biological and medical sciences Chemical, physicochemical, biochemical and biological properties Earth sciences Earth, ocean, space Exact sciences and technology Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Geochemistry Organic matter Physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology of agricultural and forest soils Soil and rock geochemistry Soil science
Online Access:	Request full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Summary Chernozems (Mollisols) play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but their contribution to the global carbon stock is often underestimated. We have estimated stocks of organic carbon in the upper 2 m in the Russian Chernozem (Haplic Chernozem) under four management regimes: a native grassland (not cultivated for at least 300 years), an adjacent continuous fallow field, a yearly‐cut meadow and an arable field in the Kursk region of Russia. The organic carbon stored in the top 2 m was 462 t ha−1 for the grassland, 451 t ha−1 for the yearly‐cut meadow, 387 t ha−1 for the arable field and 349 t ha−1 for the continuous fallow. From 18 to 26% of the total organic C in the top 2 m was between 1 and 2 m in all four regimes. Vertical distribution of organic C was modelled by an exponential function for which the R2 values lay in the range 0.89–0.95, depending on the regime. This exponential function was used to predict organic C below 2 m in the Haplic Chernozem. Model estimates showed that if we include organic C stored in the Russian Chernozem between 1 and 3 m we shall increase our estimates of C stored by 27–30%.
ISSN:	1351-0754 1365-2389