The age distribution of global soil carbon inferred from radiocarbon measurements

Shi, Zheng; Allison, Steven D.; He, Yujie; Levine, Paul A.; Hoyt, Alison M.; Beem-Miller, Jeffrey; Zhu, Qing; Wieder, William R.; Trumbore, Susan; Randerson, James T.

doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0596-z

Title: The age distribution of global soil carbon inferred from radiocarbon measurements

Journal Article · Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Nature Geoscience

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0596-z· OSTI ID:1782154

^[1];

^[2]; Beem-Miller, Jeffrey ^[2];

^[3];

^[4]; Trumbore, Susan ^[2];

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Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Max Planck Inst. for Biogeochemistry, Jena (Germany)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Climate and Global Dynamics Lab.

Soils contain more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation combined. An increased flow of carbon from the atmosphere into soil pools could help mitigate anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and climate change. Yet we do not know how quickly soils might respond because the age distribution of soil carbon is uncertain. Here we used 789 radiocarbon (Δ¹⁴C) profiles, along with other geospatial information, to create globally gridded datasets of mineral soil Δ¹⁴C and mean age. We found that soil depth is a primary driver of Δ¹⁴C, whereas climate (for example, mean annual temperature) is a major control on the spatial pattern of Δ¹⁴C in surface soil. Integrated to a depth of 1m, global soil carbon has a mean age of 4,830 ± 1,730 yr, with older carbon in deeper layers and permafrost regions. In contrast, vertically resolved land models simulate Δ¹⁴C values that imply younger carbon ages and a more rapid carbon turnover. Overall, our data-derived estimates of older mean soil carbon age suggest that soils will accumulate less carbon than predicted by current Earth system models over the twenty-first century. Reconciling these models with the global distribution of soil radiocarbon will require a better representation of the mechanisms that control carbon persistence in soils.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); European Research Council (ERC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; 695101; SC0014374

OSTI ID:: 1782154

Journal Information:: Nature Geoscience, Vol. 13, Issue 8; ISSN 1752-0894

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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