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Physical Protection of Organic Carbon in Soil Aggregates

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Encyclopedia of Agrophysics

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definitions

Soil organic carbon (SOC): Soil organic carbon refers to the carbon occurring in the soil organic matter (SOM). In soils, carbon is either organic (SOC) or inorganic (mainly carbonates, CaCO3). SOM comes from all living and dead organisms (roots, litter, fauna, microfauna, and microorganisms).

Soil aggregates: Soil aggregates are organic and mineral particles bound to each other more strongly than to adjacent particles (http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/management/fils/RESQIS3.pdf; http://ed.fnal.gouv/trc_new/pdandp/soil_research/soilaggregates.html). Aggregates are often separated with their ability to resist stresses such as wetting followed by shaking in water (Yoder, 1936; Kemper and Rosenau, 1986; Kay and Angers, 1999). They are named water-stable aggregates. There are also named after their size: macroaggregates (>250 μm) and microaggregates 50–250 μm (Tisdall and Oades, 1982; Elliott, 1986) (Soil Aggregates, Structure, and Stability).

Physical protection of soil organic...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR Eco&Sols, Functional Ecology and Biogeochemistry of Soils and Agro-Ecosystems, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier, cedex 5, BP 64501, 34394, Montpellier, France

    Tiphaine Chevallier

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  1. Tiphaine Chevallier
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Correspondence to Tiphaine Chevallier .

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  1. Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lublin, Poland

    Jan Gliński , Józef Horabik  & Jerzy Lipiec ,  & 

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Chevallier, T. (2011). Physical Protection of Organic Carbon in Soil Aggregates. In: Gliński, J., Horabik, J., Lipiec, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Agrophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3585-1_197

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