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Assessing the stability of soil organic matter by fractionation and 13C isotope techniques

  • Soil Chemistry
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Abstract

Carbon pools of different stabilities have been separated from the soil organic matter of agrochernozem and agrogray soil samples. The work has been based on the studies of the natural abundance of the carbon isotope composition by C3-C4 transition using the biokinetic, size-density, and chemical fractionation (6 M HCl hydrolysis) methods. The most stable pools with the minimum content of new carbon have been identified by particle-size and chemical fractionation. The content of carbon in the fine fractions has been found to be close to that in the nonhydrolyzable residue. This pool makes up 65 and 48% of Corg in the agrochernozems and agrogray soils, respectively. The combination of the biokinetic approach with particle-size fractionation or 6 M HCl hydrolysis has allowed assessing the size of the medium-stable organic carbon pool with a turnover time of several years to several decades. The organic matter pool with this turnover rate is usually identified from the variation in the 13C abundance by C3-C4 transition. In the agrochernozems and agrogray soils, the medium-stable carbon pool makes up 35 and 46% of Corg, respectively. The isotope indication may be replaced by a nonisotope method to significantly expand the study of the inert and mediumstable organic matter pools in the geographical aspect, but this requires a comparative analysis of particle-size and chemical fractionation data for all Russian soils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Institutskaya 2, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142290, Russia

    A. A. Larionova, B. N. Zolotareva, A. K. Kvitkina, I. V. Evdokimov, S. S. Bykhovets & V. N. Kudeyarov

  2. Voronezh Branch of the All-Russian Research Institute of Corn, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, ul. Chayanova 13, VNIIK, Khokhol district, Voronezh oblast, 396835, Russia

    A. F. Stulin

  3. Institute of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Ya. V. Kuzyakov

Authors
  1. A. A. Larionova
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  2. B. N. Zolotareva
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  3. A. K. Kvitkina
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  4. I. V. Evdokimov
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  5. S. S. Bykhovets
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  6. A. F. Stulin
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  7. Ya. V. Kuzyakov
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  8. V. N. Kudeyarov
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Correspondence to A. A. Larionova.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © A.A. Larionova, B.N. Zolotareva, A.K. Kvitkina, I.V. Evdokimov, S.S. Bykhovets, A.F. Stulin, Ya.V. Kuzyakov, V.N. Kudeyarov, 2015, published in Pochvovedenie, 2015, No. 2, pp. 175–187.

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Larionova, A.A., Zolotareva, B.N., Kvitkina, A.K. et al. Assessing the stability of soil organic matter by fractionation and 13C isotope techniques. Eurasian Soil Sc. 48, 157–168 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229315020076

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229315020076

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