Detecting carbon in soil being released into the atmosphere

A team of researchers including a University of California, Davis and a botanist identified the source of carbon emissions. This finding may play an important role in understanding the future and future global changes.

While previous studies have found that erosion can bury carbon into soil, act as a carbon sink, or store, new research is published this week in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discovered that part of that tank was only temporary.

The co-author, Johan Six, professor of botany at Davis University, said the finding will help to understand the global carbon cycle. He said: 'Where is the source and where are the reservoirs? Erosion in some ways is a reservoir, but, as we discovered, it can also become a source '.

Dijle River in Belgium

Researchers have estimated that about half of the carbon buried in the soil due to erosion will be released into the atmosphere within about 500 years, and possibly faster due to climate change. Climate change can accelerate decay rates, support the release of buried carbon.

In this study, researchers used radioactive carbon and optical age to calculate the total amount of carbon stored in the soil and released into the atmosphere over the past 6000 years along the Dijle River in Belgium.

The long time range of this study - extending from 4000 BC (4000 BC) to 2000 AD (AD 2000) - has allowed researchers to see the gradual re-release of carbon. buried in the atmosphere.

The conversion of agricultural land - the largest historical source of global erosion - began mainly in the past 150 years. Therefore, most of the 'hidden' carbon in the soil during this time has not been released but may become an important source of carbon in the future, with impacts on land management, the study said.

"Our results show that half of the carbon initially present in soil and plants has been lost to the atmosphere as a result of agricultural transformation , " said co-author Gert Verstraeten, a professor. at KU Men, Belgium said.

Six notes that erosion can be minimized by non-plowing and agricultural plowing measures, as well as cropping, which can ensure that the soil is covered, not removed from the ceiling.

"We need to know where and how much carbon is being released or stored to develop cost-effective and reasonable measures to limit climate change," said lead author Kristof Van Oost. , Belgium's Catholique de Louvain University said.