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Radiocarbon-based residence time estimates of soil organic carbon in a temperate forest: Case study for the density fractionation for Japanese volcanic ash soil

✍ Scribed by Miyuki Kondo; Masao Uchida; Yasuyuki Shibata


Publisher
Elsevier Science
Year
2010
Tongue
English
Weight
186 KB
Volume
268
Category
Article
ISSN
0168-583X

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✦ Synopsis


The world's soils store significantly more carbon than that is present in the atmosphere. To understand the distribution and dynamics of the soil organic carbon (SOC) reservoir and make a prediction about the response of the soil carbon pool to climate change, it is necessary to quantitatively constrain rate of soil carbon cycling. Following previous studies [24], we investigated the method for physically preparation of Japanese volcanic ash soil for the mean residence time (MRT) estimates in a cool-temperate deciduous forest in Japan, at one of Asia Flux monitoring sites. Sequentially isolated density fractions clearly differed in C contents and C/N ratios in soil surface (3-8 cm) and deep soil layer (38-43 cm). In soil surface layer, the light fractions (1.6-1.8, 1.6-1.8, 1.8-2.1 g cm À3 ) accounted for nearly 90% of SOC and their MRT ranged from 6 to 150 year. In deep layer, the 2.1-2.4 g cm À3 fraction accounted for more than 60% of SOC and its MRT was 3100 year. The lighter fractions (1.6-1.8, 1.8-2.1) comprised small portion of total SOC and were significantly slowly MRT (2038-2335 year), although it seems to consist of labile carbon.