Renouvellement du carbone profond des sols cultivés : une estimation par compilation de données isotopiques

Turnover of deep organic carbon in cultivated soils: an estimate from a review of isotope data Description of the subject. This study is an estimate of medium-term renewal (decades) of deep carbon in cultivated soils. Objectives. Sequestration of organic carbon in soils is a way to mitigate the global rise in CO2 and warming. Deep horizons (> 30 cm) contain about half of the soil organic carbon but, in agriculture, deep organic carbon and nitrogen are often neglected when the balance of these elements is calculated. Our goal in this study was to propose a quantification of deep C turnover. Method. We collected data from 41 profiles, where C turnover was studied using the natural 13C labeling technique. The studied cropping systems were basically tropical and temperate C4 plant monocultures. Results. Deep carbon (30 – 100 cm) turnover was on average four times slower than in topsoil (0 – 30 cm), but renewal was significant. The average depth-distribution of the carbon flux to organic matter build-up was 81% in the layer at the 0 – 30 cm level and 19% in the layer at 30 – 100 cm, with a standard error of ± 4%. Over the longer term (20 years), subsoil at 30 – 100 cm contained on average 23% of the recent soil carbon accumulated in the first meter. Conclusions. Deep organic matter should not be overlooked when considering the balance of C and N and we therefore propose a simple method for an initial first assessment. In the future, further estimates of the temporal evolution of the deep carbon stock and its factors of variation should be based on long-term agronomic experiments or modeling parameterized on heavily instrumented sites, and should be accompanied by detailed pedological descriptions.