Abstract
We investigated soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and the quantitative relationship between SOC and geochemical properties in tropical surface and subsurface soils, where information on various soil geochemical properties remains limited. We used soil samples from 178 sites in Indonesia, Thailand, Cameroon, and Tanzania as tropical soils and 34 sites in Japan as a comparison. The tropical soils were acidic, formed under high precipitation. We separated the soil samples into three groups based on the degree of weathering. We applied correlation and single regression analyses between SOC and geochemical properties including oxalate extractable Al and Fe (Alo + Feo), pyrophosphate extractable Al and Fe (Alp + Fep), and clay + silt. In the subsurface soils, Alo + Feo and Alp + Fep were strongly correlated with SOC (r = 0.79–0.85 and 0.58–0.85, respectively), and the quantitative relationships of SOC with these properties were similar in all the weathering groups (4–5 and 5–8, respectively). On the other hand, no strong correlation with SOC or similar quantitative relationships among the weathering groups were found for clay + silt. In the surface soils, Alo + Feo and Alp + Fep were correlated with SOC (r = 0.48–0.56 and 0.55–0.76, respectively), but the ratio of C to active Al and Fe was higher probably because of the large C input. Our results highlight the importance of Alo + Feo and Alp + Fep in SOC storage, of which the ratios to SOC are similar in each of the surface and subsurface soils regardless of the weathering degree.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Anda M, Shamshuddin J, Fauziah IC, Omar SRS (2008) Pore space and specific surface area of heavy clay oxisols as affected by their mineralogy and organic matter. Soil Sci 173:560–574. https://doi.org/10.1097/SS.0b013e318182b0a9
Aran D, Gury M, Jeanroy E (2001) Organo-metallic complexes in an Andosol: a comparative study with a Cambisol and Podzol. Geoderma 99:65–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0016-7061(00)00064-1
Barthes BG et al (2008) Texture and sesquioxide effects on water-stable aggregates and organic matter in some tropical soils. Geoderma 143:14–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2007.10.003
Becquer T, Petard J, Duwig C, Bourdon E, Moreau R, Herbillon AJ (2001) Mineralogical, chemical and charge properties of Geric Ferralsols from New Caledonia. Geoderma 103:291–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0016-7061(01)00045-3
Blakemore LC, Searle PL, Daly BK (1981) Methods for chemical analysis of soils. New Zealand Soil Bureau Scientific Report 10A. DSIR, Wellington
Bruun TB, Elberling B, Christensen BT (2010) Lability of soil organic carbon in tropical soils with different clay minerals. Soil Biol Biochem 42:888–895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.01.009
Buurman P (1985) Carbon/sesquioxide ratios in organic complexes and the transition albic–spodic horizon. J Soil Sci 36:255–260. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.1985.tb00329.x
Chen CM, Hall SJ, Coward E, Thompson A (2020) Iron-mediated organic matter decomposition in humid soils can counteract protection. Nat Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16071-5
Coward EK, Thompson A, Plante AF (2018) Contrasting Fe speciation in two humid forest soils: insight into organomineral associations in redox-active environments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 238:68–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.07.007
Dahlgren RA, Marrett DJ (1991) Organic-carbon sorption in arctic and sub-alpine Spodosol-B horizons. Soil Sci Soc Am J 55:1382–1390
Delvaux B, Herbillon AJ, Vielvoye L (1989) Characterization of a weathering sequence of soils derived from volcanic ash in Cameroon—taxonomic, mineralogical and agronomic implications. Geoderma 45:375–388
Dubus IG, Becquer T (2001) Phosphorus sorption and desorption in oxide-rich Ferralsols of New Caledonia. Aust J Soil Res 39:403–414. https://doi.org/10.1071/sr00003
Erich MS, Plante AF, Fernandez M, Mallory EB, Ohno T (2012) Effects of profile depth and management on the composition of labile and total soil organic matter. Soil Sci Soc Am J 76:408–419. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2011.0273
Funakawa S, Watanabe T, Kosaki T (2008) Regional trends in the chemical and mineralogical properties of upland soils in humid Asia: with special reference to the WRB classification scheme. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 54:751–760. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-0765.2008.00294.x
Funakawa S, Yoshida H, Watanabe T, Sugihara S, Kilasara M, Kosaki T (2011) Soil fertility status and its determining factors in Tanzania. In: Hernandez-Soriano MC (ed) Soil health and land use management. InTech, Rijeka, pp 3–16
Gee GW, Or D (2002) Particle-size analysis. In: Dane JH, Topp GC (eds) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 4. Physical Methods. vol SSSA Book Series 5. SSSA, Madison, pp 255–293
Grand S, Lavkulich LM (2011) Depth distribution and predictors of soil organic carbon in podzols of a forested watershed in Southwestern Canada. Soil Sci 176:164–174. https://doi.org/10.1097/SS.0b013e3182128671
Guggenberger G, Kaiser K (2003) Dissolved organic matter in soil: challenging the paradigm of sorptive preservation. Geoderma 113:293–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0016-7061(02)00366-x
Gustafsson JP, Bhattacharya P, Bain DC, Fraser AR, McHardy WJ (1995) Podzolisation mechanisms and the synthesis of imogolite in northern Scandinavia. Geoderma 66:167–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7061(95)00005-9
Hassink J (1997) The capacity of soils to preserve organic C and N by their association with clay and silt particles. Plant Soil 191:77–87. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1004213929699
Hayter AJ (1984) A proof of the conjecture that the Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons procedure is conservative. Ann Stat 12:61–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9863-7_101575
Hijmans RJ, Cameron SE, Parra JL, Jones PG, Jarvis A (2005) Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int J Climatol 25:1965–1978. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1276
Hirai H, Yoshikawa K, Sakurai K, Kyuma K (1991) Characteristics of the soils developed under broad-leaved evergreen forests in Okinawa Prefecture and the Kinki District with special reference to their pedogenetic processes. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 37:509–519
Hossner LR (1996) Dissolution for total elemental analysis. In: Sparks DL (ed) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 3. Chemical Methods. SSSA, Madison, pp 49–64
Igwe CA, Zarei M, Stahr K (2009) Colloidal stability in some tropical soils of southeastern Nigeria as affected by iron and aluminium oxides. CATENA 77:232–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2009.01.003
IUSS Working Group WRB (2015) World reference base for soil resources 2014. Update 2015. World Soil Resources Reports No. 106. FAO, Rome
Jackson RB, Canadell J, Ehleringer JR, Mooney HA, Sala OE, Schlze ED (1996) A global analysis of root distribution for terrestrial biomes. Oecologia 108:389–411
Kaiser M, Ellerbrock RH (2005) Functional characterization of soil organic matter fractions different in solubility originating from a long-term field experiment. Geoderma 127:196–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2004.12.002
Kaiser M, Walter K, Ellerbrock RH, Sommer M (2011) Effects of land use and mineral characteristics on the organic carbon content, and the amount and composition of Na-pyrophosphate-soluble organic matter, in subsurface soils. Eur J Soil Sci 62:226–236. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2010.01340.x
Kaiser M, Zederer DP, Ellerbrock RH, Sommer M, Ludwig B (2016) Effects of mineral characteristics on content, composition, and stability of organic matter fractions separated from seven forest topsoils of different pedogenesis. Geoderma 263:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.08.029
Karltun E et al (2000) Surface reactivity of poorly-ordered minerals in podzols B horizons. Geoderma 94:265–288
Kirsten M, Kaaya A, Klinger T, Feger K-H (2016) Stocks of soil organic carbon in forest ecosystems of the Eastern Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. CATENA 137:651–659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2014.12.027
Kleber M, Mikutta R, Torn MS, Jahn R (2005) Poorly crystalline mineral phases protect organic matter in acid subsoil horizons. Eur J Soil Sci 56:717–725
Kleber M, Sollins P, Sutton R (2007) A conceptual model of organo-mineral interactions in soils: self-assembly organic molecular fragments into zonal structures on mineral surfaces. Biogeochemistry 85:9–24
Kögel-Knabner I et al (2008) Organo-mineral associations in temperate soils: integrating biology, mineralogy, and organic matter chemistry. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci—Zeitschrift Fur Pflanzenernahrung Und Bodenkunde 171:61–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.200700048
Lorenz K, Lal R, Jimenez JJ (2009) Soil organic carbon stabilization in dry tropical forests of Costa Rica. Geoderma 152:95–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2009.05.025
Marques FA, Calegari MR, Vidal-Torrado P, Buurman P (2011) Relationship between soil oxidizable carbon and physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of Umbric Ferralsols. Rev Bras Cienc Solo 35:25–40. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-06832011000100003
Mikutta R, Kleber M, Torn MS, Jahn R (2006) Stabilization of soil organic matter: association with minerals or chemical recalcitrance? Biogeochemistry 77:25–56
Mikutta R et al (2010) Mineralogical impact on organic nitrogen across a long-term soil chronosequence (0.3–4100 kyr). Geochim Cosmochim Acta 74:2142–2164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2010.01.006
Nakao A, Sugihara S, Maejima Y, Tsukada H, Funakawa S (2017) Ferralsols in the Cameroon plateaus, with a focus on the mineralogical control on their cation exchange capacities. Geoderma 285:206–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2016.10.003
Neufeldt H, Ayarza MA, Resck DVS, Zech W (1999) Distribution of water-stable aggregates and aggregating agents in Cerrado Oxisols. Geoderma 93:85–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0016-7061(99)00046-4
Oades JM (1988) The retention of organic-matter in soils. Biogeochemistry 5:35–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02180317
Oades JM (1989) An introduction to organic matter in mineral soils. In: Dixon JB, Weed SB (eds) Minerals in Soil Environments. vol SSSA Book Series 1, 2nd edn. SSSA, Madison, pp 89–159
Ohta S, Effendi S (1993) Ultisols of Lowland Dipterocarp Forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, III. Clay minerals, free oxides, and exchangeable cations soil. Sci Plant Nutr 39:1–12
Percival HJ, Parfitt RL, Scott NA (2000) Factors controlling soil carbon levels in New Zealand grasslands: is clay content important? Soil Sci Soc Am J 64:1623–1630
Podwojewski P, Poulenard J, Nguyet ML, de Rouw A, Nguyen VT, Pham QH, Tran DT (2011) Climate and vegetation determine soil organic matter status in an alpine inner-tropical soil catena in the Fan Si Pan Mountain, Vietnam. CATENA 87:226–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2011.06.002
Rasmussen C, Torn MS, Southard RJ (2005) Mineral assemblage and aggregates control carbon dynamics in a California conifer forest. Soil Sci Soc Am J 69:1711–1721. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2005.0040
Rasmussen C, Southard RJ, Horwath WR (2006) Mineral control of organic carbon mineralization in a range of temperate conifer forest soils. Glob Change Biol 12:834–847
Rasmussen C, Dahlgren RA, Southard RJ (2010) Basalt weathering and pedogenesis across an environmental gradient in the southern Cascade Range, California, USA. Geoderma 154:473–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2009.05.019
Rasmussen C et al (2018) Beyond clay: towards an improved set of variables for predicting soil organic matter content. Biogeochemistry 137:297–306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-018-0424-3
Rasse DP, Rumpel C, Dignac MF (2005) Is soil carbon mostly root carbon? Mechanisms for a specific stabilisation. Plant Soil 269:341–356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-004-0907-y
Rennert T (2019) Wet-chemical extractions to characterise pedogenic Al and Fe species—a critical review. Soil Res 57:1–16. https://doi.org/10.1071/sr18299
Rumpel C, Kögel-Knabner I (2011) Deep soil organic matter-a key but poorly understood component of terrestrial C cycle. Plant Soil 338:143–158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0391-5
Scharlemann JPW, Tanner EVJ, Hiederer R, Kapos V (2014) Global soil carbon: understanding and managing the largest terrestrial carbon pool. Carbon Manag 5:81–91. https://doi.org/10.4155/cmt.13.77
Schnitzer M, Schuppli P (1989) Method for the sequential extraction of organic-matter from soils and soil fractions. Soil Sci Soc Am J 53:1418–1424. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1989.03615995005300050019x
Schuppli PA, Ross GJ, McKeague JA (1983) The effective removal of suspended materials from pyrophosphate extracts of soils from tropical and temperate regions. Soil Sci Soc Am J 47:1026–1032
Shang C, Tiessen H (1998) Organic matter stabilization in two semiarid tropical soils: Size, density, and magnetic separations. Soil Sci Soc Am J 62:1247–1257
Shang C, Zelazny L (2008) Selective dissolution techniques for mineral analysis of soils and sediments. In: Ulery AL, Drees LR (eds) Methods of Soil Analysis Part 5 Mineralogical Methods. Soil Science Society of America Inc, Madison, pp 33–80
Siregar A, Kleber M, Mikutta R, Jahn R (2005) Sodium hypochlorite oxidation reduces soil organic matter concentrations without affecting inorganic soil constituents. Eur J Soil Sci 56:481–490. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2004.00680.x
Six J, Conant RT, Paul EA, Paustian K (2002) Stabilization mechanisms of soil organic matter: implications for C-saturation of soils. Plant Soil 241:155–176
Soil Survey Staff (1996) Soil survey laboratory methods manual. Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 42 Version 3.0. USDA-NRCS, Washington, DC
Soil Survey Staff (2014) Keys to soil taxonomy, 12th edn. USDA-NRCS, Washington, DC
Sollins P, Homann P, Caldwell BA (1996) Stabilization and destabilization of soil organic matter: mechanisms and controls. Geoderma 74:65–105
Souza IF et al (2017) Al-/Fe-(hydr)oxides-organic carbon associations in Oxisols—from ecosystems to submicron scales. CATENA 154:63–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2017.02.017
Spielvogel S, Prietzel J, Kögel-Knabner I (2008) Soil organic matter stabilization in acidic forest soils is preferential and soil type-specific. Eur J Soil Sci 59:674–692. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2008.01030.x
Takahashi T, Ikeda Y, Fujita K, Nanzyo M (2006) Effect of liming on organically complexed aluminum of nonallophanic Andosols from northeastern Japan. Geoderma 130:26–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2005.01.006
Toriyama J, Hak M, Imaya A, Hirai K, Kiyono Y (2015) Effects of forest type and environmental factors on the soil organic carbon pool and its density fractions in a seasonally dry tropical forest. For Ecol Manag 335:147–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.09.037
Torn MS, Trumbore SE, Chadwick OA, Vitousek PM, Hendricks DM (1997) Mineral control of soil organic carbon storage and turnover. Nature 389:170–173
Torrent J, Schwertmann U, Schulze DG (1980) Iron-oxide mineralogy of some soils of 2 river terrace sequences in Spain. Geoderma 23:191–208
Vitousek PM (1984) Litterfall, nutrient cycling, and nutrient limitation in tropical forests. Ecology 65:285–298. https://doi.org/10.2307/1939481
Vogel C et al (2014) Submicron structures provide preferential spots for carbon and nitrogen sequestration in soils. Nat Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3947
von Lützow M, Kögel-Knabner K, Ekschmitt K, Matzner E, Guggenberger G, Marshner B, Flessa H (2006) Stabilization of organic matter in temperate soils: mechanisms and their relevance under different soils conditions—a review. Eur J Soil Sci 57:426–445
Wagai R, Mayer LM (2007) Sorptive stabilization of organic matter in soils by hydrous iron oxides. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 71:25–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2006.08.047
Wagai R, Mayer LM, Kitayama K, Shirato Y (2013) Association of organic matter with iron and aluminum across a range of soils determined via selective dissolution techniques coupled with dissolved nitrogen analysis. Biogeochemistry 112:95–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-011-9652-5
Watanabe T (2017) Significance of active aluminum and iron on organic carbon preservation and phosphate sorption/release in tropical soils. In: Funakawa S (ed) Soils, ecosystem processes, and agricultural development: tropical Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Springer, Tokyo, pp 103–125
Watanabe T, Funakawa S, Kosaki T (2006) Clay mineralogy and its relationship to soil solution composition in soils from different weathering environments of humid Asia: Japan, Thailand and Indonesia. Geoderma 136:51–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2006.02.001
Watanabe T, Hasenaka Y, Hartono A, Sabiham S, Nakao A, Funakawa S (2017) Parent materials and climate control secondary mineral distributions in soils of Kalimantan, Indonesia. Soil Sci Soc Am J 81:124–137. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2016.08.0263
Wiseman CLS, Püttmann W (2005) Soil organic carbon and its sorptive preservation in central Germany. Eur J Soil Sci 56:65–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1351-0754.2004.00655.x
Zinn YL, Lal R, Bigham JM, Resck DVS (2007) Edaphic controls on soil organic carbon retention in the Brazilian Cerrado: Soil structure. Soil Sci Soc Am J 71:1215–1224. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2006.0015
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant Nos. 24228007, 17H06171, and 18H02314.
Funding
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Responsible Editor: Stephen D. Sebestyen.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ashida, K., Watanabe, T., Urayama, S. et al. Quantitative relationship between organic carbon and geochemical properties in tropical surface and subsurface soils. Biogeochemistry 155, 77–95 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00813-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-021-00813-8