Abstract
Reactive iron (Fe) plays an important role in regulating soil organic carbon (SOC) biogeochemical cycles in different ecosystems. However, little is known about the factors which dominate the content of iron-bound organic carbon (OC-Fe) in permafrost wetland soils. In this study, we determined OC-Fe contents in permafrost wetland soils along the Yarlung Tsangbo River (YTR). The relations between the amount of OC-Fe and multiple environmental factors, including soil water content (SWC), element contents (SOC, total iron, manganese, and chromium), and pyrolysis products of SOM, were explored. The concentrations of OC-Fe ranged between 0.01 and 3.61% and it accounted for 11.3 ± 7.7% of the SOC pool. The percentage of organic carbon attached to iron in SOC (fOC-Fe) in subsoils (13.16 ± 1.01%) was significantly higher than that of the topsoils (9.41 ± 0.77%, p < 0.01). Notably, SOC, Fe, and SWC were dominating factors affecting the content of OC-Fe, while the degree of importance of them was different in topsoils and subsoils. It suggested that the increase of SWC could enhance more SOC bounded by per unit iron in subsoils than in topsoils. The fOC-Fe was correlated with different factors in topsoils and subsoils. Aromatic compounds were the most important factor affecting fOC-Fe, and aromatics could be selectively preserved by iron oxides in the soil. The results of this study demonstrate that SWC and molecular factors of SOC may have larger importance in controlling carbon stability than expected previously.
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Availability of Data and Materials
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Data would be available when be requested.
Code Availability
The R software was employed to perform statistical analysis. The code was as follows:
library(gbmplus).
data <—read.csv('Oc-Fe', check.names = FALSE).
set.seed(123).
fit_OC-Fe <—gbm(OC-Fe-.
data = data, n.trees = 100, cv.folds = 5).
par(las = 1).
summary(fit_OC-Fe).
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0500404-5), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41771103, 41671081, 41571085), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. 2018265).
national key research and development program of china,2016YFC0500404-5,Xuehui Zhang,national natural science foundation of china,41771103,Xuehui Zhang,41671081,Xuehui Zhang,41571085,Xuehui Zhang,youth innovation promotion association of the chinese academy of sciences,2018265,Xuehui Zhang
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Xuehui Zhang wrote the draft, Yuan Xin performed the chemical analysis, Zhenshan Xue and Zhongsheng Zhang designed the experiment, and Haitao Wu polished the draft.
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Zhang, X., Xin, Y., Zhang, Z. et al. Soil Moisture and Aromatic-Containing Compounds Control Soil Organic Carbon Associated with Iron Oxides in Permafrost Wetland Soils Along the Yarlung Tsangbo River, Tibet. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 22, 1315–1325 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-021-00733-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-021-00733-4