Soil organic carbon in particle-size fractions under three grassland types in Inner Mongolia, China

• Published in: Journal of soils and sediments 2018-05, Vol.18 (5), p.1896-1905
• Main Authors: Xu, Zijuan, Li, Zichuan, Liu, Hongyan, Zhang, Xiaodong, Hao, Qian, Cui, Yang, Yang, Shilei, Liu, Man, Wang, Hailong, Gielen, Gerty, Song, Zhaoliang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annual precipitation; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Clay; Climate change; Deserts; Earth and Environmental Science; Environ Risk Assess; Environment; Environmental Physics; Global climate; Grasslands; Grazing intensity; Meadows; Organic carbon; Organic soils; Sec 2 • Global Change; Silt; Soil; Soil analysis; Soil investigations; Soil layers; Soil properties; Soil Science & Conservation; Soil stabilization; Soil temperature; Soil texture; Soils; Steppes; Stocks; Studies; Sustainable Land Use • Research Article; Sustainable use; Texture
• ISSN: 1439-0108; 1614-7480
• DOI: 10.1007/s11368-018-1951-1

Purpose Transferring CO 2 to soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important carbon sequestration mechanism that may mitigate global climate change. Grasslands can preserve 10–30% of total SOC stock. This study investigated the contribution of different soil particle-size fractions to SOC sequestration in grasslands, which play an important role for stabilization of SOC. Materials and methods Soil layers at 0–10, 10–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm were sampled from meadow steppe, typical steppe and desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, northern China in July and August, 2016. Bulk soils were fractionated by wet-sieving method to investigate SOC stock in different particle-size fractions. SOC was determined with ElementarVario MAX CNS analyzer after removing soil inorganic C. Results and discussion The SOC stock in 0–60 cm depth was 163.0 Mg C ha −1 in typical steppe soils, 127.3 Mg C ha −1 in meadow steppe and 44.4 Mg C ha −1 in desert steppe. The silt (2–53 μm) and clay (