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Relationships between particle‐size distribution and organic carbon in French arable topsoils
Author(s) -
Arrouays D.,
Saby N.,
Walter C.,
Lemercier B.,
Schvartz C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2006.00020.x
Subject(s) - topsoil , arable land , soil water , total organic carbon , environmental science , soil carbon , soil science , carbon fibers , proxy (statistics) , decile , agronomy , environmental chemistry , geography , mathematics , chemistry , agriculture , biology , statistics , archaeology , algorithm , composite number
A database including results from 102 000 soil analyses was built for arable topsoil in France. We show a strong effect of soil particle‐size distribution on present organic carbon (OC) stocks in these soils. By using the upper decile values by textural classes as a proxy of the maximal carbon storage potential, we show that it might be more efficient to encourage practices favouring carbon accumulation in soils already having high OC stocks than to try to increase OC stocks in soils where present stocks are low.