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Soil Carbon pp 209–216Cite as

Could Soil Acidity Enhance Sequestration of Organic Carbon in Soils?

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Part of the book series: Progress in Soil Science ((PROSOIL))

Abstract

On the basis of field and laboratory measurements of the dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM) in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine having different soil pH levels, we postulate that soil acidity plays an important role in the accumulation of SOM through two processes. Firstly, the amount of potentially mineralizable C (C 0) in the acid soils of Kalimantan or light-fraction C in the Japanese acid soils often increased drastically. Hence, it seems that high soil acidity can enhance the accumulation of organic materials in surface soils by decreasing the soil microbial activities for SOM decomposition. Secondly, field measurements of C flux in various soils under forest showed that the internal leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from litter layers or surface soils increased under low pH conditions, typically for Humods in Japan and Udults in Kalimantan. This indicates a downward movement of DOC in acid soils that increases the tendency of the subsoils to accumulate SOM as organo-mineral complexes. It is concluded that high soil acidity can enhance the storage level of soil organic materials in the form of readily mineralizable organic materials in the surface soils and by organo-mineral complexes formed in subsoils as a result of accelerated leaching of DOC from the O horizon.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan

    Shinya Funakawa & Tetsuhiro Watanabe

  2. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Kazumichi Fujii

  3. Faculty of Environmental Studies, Tottori University of Environmental Studies, Tottori, 689-1111, Japan

    Atsunobu Kadono

  4. Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan

    Takashi Kosaki

Authors
  1. Shinya Funakawa
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  2. Kazumichi Fujii
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  3. Atsunobu Kadono
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  4. Tetsuhiro Watanabe
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  5. Takashi Kosaki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shinya Funakawa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Alfred E. Hartemink

  2. Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Kevin McSweeney

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Funakawa, S., Fujii, K., Kadono, A., Watanabe, T., Kosaki, T. (2014). Could Soil Acidity Enhance Sequestration of Organic Carbon in Soils?. In: Hartemink, A., McSweeney, K. (eds) Soil Carbon. Progress in Soil Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04084-4_22

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