Size, distribution, and vulnerability of the global soil inorganic carbon

Global estimates of the size, distribution, and vulnerability of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) remain largely unquantified. By compiling 223,593 field-based measurements and developing machine-learning models, we report that global soils store 2305 ± 636 (±1 SD) billion tonnes of carbon as SIC over the top 2-meter depth. Under future scenarios, soil acidification associated with nitrogen additions to terrestrial ecosystems will reduce global SIC (0.3 meters) up to 23 billion tonnes of carbon over the next 30 years, with India and China being the most affected. Our synthesis of present-day land-water carbon inventories and inland-water carbonate chemistry reveals that at least 1.13 ± 0.33 billion tonnes of inorganic carbon is lost to inland-waters through soils annually, resulting in large but overlooked impacts on atmospheric and hydrospheric carbon dynamics.

Authors
Huang Yuanyuan1, 2 , Song Xiaodong3 , Wang Ying-Ping4 , Canadell J.G.5 , Luo Yiqi6 , Ciais Philippe7 , Chen Anping8 , Hong Songbai9 , Wang Yugang10 , Tao Feng11 , Li Wei12 , Xu Yiming13 , Mirzaeitalarposhti Reza14 , Elbasiouny Heba15 , Savin Igor 16, 17 , Shchepashchenko Dmitry18, 19, 20 , Rossel R.A.21 , Goll D.S.7 , Chang Jinfeng18, 22 , Houlton B.Z.11 , Wu Huayong3 , Yang Fei3 , Feng Xiaoming23 , Chen Yongzhe24 , Liu Yu1 , Niu Shuli1 , Zhang Gan-Lin3, 25, 26
Journal
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Number of issue
6692
Language
English
Pages
233-239
Status
Published
Volume
384
Year
2024
Organizations
  • 1 Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 4 CSIRO Environment
  • 5 CSIRO Environment
  • 6 Soil and Crop Sciences Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University
  • 7 Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, CEA/CNRS/UVSQ/Université Paris Saclay
  • 8 Department of Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University
  • 9 School of Urban Planning and Design, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University
  • 10 State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 11 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Global Development, Cornell University
  • 12 Department of Earth System Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modelling, Institute for Global Change Studies, Tsinghua University, Beijing
  • 13 School of Grassland Science, Beijing Forestry University
  • 14 Institute of Crop Science (340i), University of Hohenheim
  • 15 Agriculture Faculty (Girls), Al-Azhar University
  • 16 V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute
  • 17 Institute of Environmental Engineering of RUDN University
  • 18 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
  • 19 Center for Forest Ecology and Productivity of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  • 20 Institute of Ecology and Geography, Siberian Federal University
  • 21 Soil and Landscape Science School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Curtin University
  • 22 College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University
  • 23 Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 24 Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong
  • 25 College of Advanced Agronomy, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 26 Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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