Spatial and temporal variations in carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in selected soils of the Moravian Karst (Czech Republic)

• Published in: Carbonates and evaporites 2014-12, Vol.29 (4), p.395-408
• Main Authors: Blecha, Martin, Faimon, Jiří
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Coniferous forests; Constants; Deciduous forests; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geology; Karst; Mineral Resources; Mineralogy; Original Article; Photosynthesis; Rain; Rainfall; Seasonal variations; Seasonality; Sinkholes; Soil; Soil profiles; Soil properties; Soils; Summer; Temperature dependence; Temporal variations
• ISSN: 0891-2556; 1878-5212
• DOI: 10.1007/s13146-014-0220-7

The evolution of CO 2 concentrations in selected soils of the Moravian Karst (Czech Republic) was studied during a 1-year period from August 2008 to July 2009. CO 2 concentrations directly measured in air of the soils of coniferous and deciduous forests reached up to 0.5 vol%. Substantially, higher CO 2 concentrations, over 1 vol%, were found in thicker sinkhole soils under grassy vegetation. CO 2 concentrations showed strong seasonality with maxima in summer and minima in winter at all sites. On the basis of temperature dependence, ln c CO 2 = b 0 - b 1 / T (where c CO 2 is CO 2 concentration in mol/L, T is temperatures in Kelvin, and b 1 , b 2 are constants); all CO 2 concentrations were normalized to 10 °C. These concentrations did not correlate with rainfall or soil profile depth. The remaining maxima in the time series of CO 2 concentrations (a sharp peak especially in July) might be the result of increased plant respiration during enhanced photosynthesis activity during the early-summer stage of the green period.