Carbon Sink Strength of Subsurface Horizons in Brazilian Oxisols

Souza, Ivan F.; Almeida, Luis F.  J.; Jesus, Guilherme L.; Pett-Ridge, Jennifer; Nico, Peter S.; Kleber, Markus; Silva, Ivo R.

doi:10.2136/sssaj2017.05.0143

Title: Carbon Sink Strength of Subsurface Horizons in Brazilian Oxisols

Journal Article · Thu Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Soil Science Society of America Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2017.05.0143· OSTI ID:1467802

Souza, Ivan F. ^[1]; Almeida, Luis F. J. ^[1]; Jesus, Guilherme L. ^[2]; Pett-Ridge, Jennifer ^[3]; Nico, Peter S. ^[4]; Kleber, Markus ^[5]; Silva, Ivo R. ^[1]

Univ. Federal de Viçosa Viçosa, Minas Gerais (Brazil)
Celulose Nipo-Brasileira, Minas Gerais (Brazil)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States); Institut für Bodenlandschaftsforschung Leibnitz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF), Munchenberg (Germany)

Interactions with pedogenic oxides are a known mechanism of soil organic matter (SOM) protection, but little is known about how the protective power of pedogenic oxides varies with soil depth in highly weathered tropical soils. To address this issue, we followed the decomposition of a double-labeled plant litter (13C/15N) in microcosm experiments using samples collected at four depths (0-10, 10-20, 20-40, and 60-100 cm) from six Brazilian Oxisols. These soils were selected to include a range of taxonomic subtypes, spanning wide variations in mineralogy and texture. After a 12-mo incubation, we quantified the proportion of isotopically-labeled SOM (13C/15N) within the mineral fraction <53 μm (i.e., clay+silt). We found that litter-C retention increased with depth, while the opposite occurred for litter-N. Correlations between isotopically labeled SOM and short-range order (SRO) Al-/Fe-(hydr)oxides were insignificant in topsoil (0-10 cm), but increased with depth, reaching peak significance in the 20- to 40-cm interval (r = 0.64 and 0.58, for litter-C and -N, respectively). A similar trend was observed for crystalline Al-/Fe-(hydr)oxides, which were more strongly correlated with the retention of 13C than15N. We posit that in subsoil, both SRO and crystalline Al-/Fe-(hydr)oxides are more readily involved in the neoformation of mineral-organic associations. Overall, litter-C is less efficiently transferred into the clay+silt fraction of C-rich topsoil relative to C-depleted subsoil horizons, which may represent a significant C sink for Oxisols.

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1467802

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1476589

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-738825; 892035

Journal Information:: Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 82, Issue 1; ISSN 0361-5995

Publisher:: Alliance of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science SocietiesCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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