Soil organic carbon stocks in saline and sodic landscapes
Vanessa N. L. Wong A B E , Brian W. Murphy C , Terry B. Koen C , Richard S. B. Greene A and Ram C. Dalal B DA Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University; Co-operative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
B Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting.
C New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change, PO Box 445, Cowra, NSW 2794, Australia.
D Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, 80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Qld 4068, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Current address: Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Email: u2514228@anu.edu.au
Australian Journal of Soil Research 46(4) 378-389 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR07160
Submitted: 15 October 2007 Accepted: 23 April 2008 Published: 23 June 2008
Abstract
Increasing salinity (high levels of water-soluble salts) and sodicity (high levels of exchangeable sodium) are serious land degradation issues worldwide. In Australia, salinity and sodicity affect a large proportion of the landscape and often coincide with agricultural land. Despite the areal extent of salt-affected soils, both worldwide and in Australia, few data exist on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in these areas. For this study, the level of SOC was determined in scalded (bare areas without vegetation), scalded-eroded, vegetated, and revegetated (i.e. sown pasture) soil profiles from 2 sites in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. SOC concentration was significantly higher in the profiles that were vegetated with native pasture (1.96–2.71% in the 0–0.05 m layer) or revegetated with sown pasture (2.35% in the 0–0.05 m layer), and lower in those profiles that were scalded (1.52% in the 0–0.05 m layer) or scalded-eroded (0.16–0.30% in the 0–0.05 m layer). These lower SOC levels are reflected throughout the profiles of the scalded and scalded-eroded soils. The soil carbon stocks to 0.30 m are also much lower in the scalded and scalded-eroded soils that have been affected by salinity and sodicity. The profiles that were vegetated with native pasture had carbon stocks to 0.30 m of 35.2–53.5 t/ha, while the sown pasture had 42.1 t/ha. This compares with the scalded profiles with 19.8 t/ha and the scalded-eroded profiles with 7.7–11.4 t/ha to 0.30 m. The presence of vegetation ameliorates several soil properties and results in the differences in SOC and other soil properties between scalded and vegetated profiles at the surface and at depth.
Additional keywords: salinity, sodicity, revegetation, eroded, SOC.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Jan Cheetham, Karen Fisher and David Hilhorst for assistance in the field; Des Lang and Linda McMorrow for assistance in the laboratory; Emlyn Williams for assistance with data analysis; and Colin Pain and Warren Hicks for invaluable comments on the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank the landholders for granting access to their properties: the Dowlings for ‘Tarcoola’ and the Magees for ‘Gunyah.’ Funding from the Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting and the Co-operative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration is gratefully acknowledged.
Bouyoucos GD
(1936) Directions for making mechanical analysis of soils by the hydrometer method. Soil Science 42, 225–229.
Breuer L,
Huisman JA,
Keller T, Frede H-G
(2006) Impact of a conversion from cropland to grassland on C and N storage and related properties: analysis of a 60 year chronosequence. Geoderma 133, 6–18.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bruand A, Gilkes RJ
(2002) Subsoil bulk density and organic carbon stock in relation to land use for a Western Australian Sodosol. Australian Journal of Soil Research 40, 999–1010.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Chartres CJ
(1993) Sodic soils: an introduction to their formation and distribution in Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 31, 751–760.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Conant RT,
Paustian K, Elliot ET
(2001) Grassland management and conversion into grassland: effects on soil carbon. Ecological Applications 11, 343–355.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Conant RT,
Six J, Paustian K
(2004) Land use effects on soil carbon fractions in the southeastern United States. II. Changes in soil carbon fractions along a forest to pasture chronosequence. Biology and Fertility of Soils 40, 194–200.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Dalal RC,
Harms B,
Krull E, Wang W
(2005) Total soil organic matter and its labile pools following mulga (Acacia aneura) clearing for pasture development and cropping 1. Total and labile carbon. Australian Journal of Soil Research 43, 13–20.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fang HJ,
Cheng SL,
Zhang XP,
Liang AZ,
Yang XM, Drury CF
(2006) Impact of soil redistribution in a sloping landscape on carbon sequestration in northeast China. Land Degradation and Development 17, 89–96.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gale WJ,
Cambardella CA, Bailey TB
(2000) Root-derived carbon and the formation and stabilization of aggregates. Soil Science Society of America Journal 64, 201–207.
Garg VK
(1998) Interaction of tree crops with a sodic soil environment: potential for rehabilitation of degraded environments. Land Degradation and Development 9, 81–93.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Golchin A,
Oades JM,
Skjemstad JO, Clarke P
(1994) Soil structure and carbon cycling. Australian Journal of Soil Research 32, 1043–1068.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hatton TJ,
Ruprecht J, George RJ
(2003) Preclearing hydrology of the Western Australia wheatbelt: target for the future? Plant and Soil 257, 341–356.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Jenkinson DS
(1990) The turnover of organic carbon and nitrogen in soil. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 329, 361–368.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Jinbo Z,
Changchun S, Wenyan Y
(2006) Land use effects on the distribution of labile organic carbon fractions through soil profiles. Soil Science Society of America Journal 70, 660–667.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Jobbágy EG, Jackson RB
(2000) The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and its relation to climate and vegetation. Ecological Applications 10, 423–436.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Laura RD
(1976) Effects of alkali salts on carbon and nitrogen mineralization of organic matter in soil. Plant and Soil 44, 587–596.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mabuhay JA,
Nakagoshi N, Isagi Y
(2006) Microbial responses to organic and inorganic amendments in eroded soils. Land Degradation and Development 17, 321–332.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McAndrew DW, Malhi SS
(1992) Long-term N fertilization of a solonetzic soil: effects on chemical and biological properties. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 24, 619–623.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mishra A, Sharma SD
(2003) Leguminous trees for the restoration of degraded sodic wasteland in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Land Degradation and Development 14, 245–261.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Oades JM
(1984) Soil organic matter and structural stability: mechanisms and implications for management. Plant and Soil 76, 319–337.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Peck AJ, Hatton T
(2003) Salinity and the discharge of salts from catchments in Australia. Journal of Hydrology 272, 191–202.
| Crossref |
Ponnamperuma FN
(1972) The chemistry of submerged soils. Advances in Agronomy 24, 29–96.
Qadir M,
Steffans D,
Yan F, Schubert S
(2003) Sodium removal from a calcareous saline-sodic soil through leaching and plant uptake during phytoremediation. Land Degradation and Development 14, 301–307.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rengasamy P
(2006) World salinization with emphasis on Australia. Journal of Experimental Botany 57, 1017–1023.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |
Ross DJ,
Speir TW,
Tate KR,
Cairns A,
Meyrick KF, Pansier EA
(1982) Restoration of pasture after topsoil removal: effects on soil carbon and nitrogen mineralization, microbial biomass and enzyme activities. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 14, 575–581.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rutigliano FA,
D’Ascoli R, Virzo De Santo A
(2004) Soil microbial metabolism and nutrient status in a Mediterranean area as affected by plant cover. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 36, 1719–1729.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Salama RB,
Farrington P,
Bartle GA, Watson GD
(1993) Salinity trends in the wheatbelt of Western Australia: results of water and salt balance studies from Cuballing catchment. Journal of Hydrology 145, 41–63.
| Crossref |
Semple WS,
Koen TB,
Eldridge DJ,
Düttmer KM, Parker B
(2006) Variation in soil properties on two partially revegetated saline scalds in south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 46, 1279–1289.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Shainberg I, Letey J
(1984) Response of soils to sodic and saline conditions. Hilgardia 52, 1–57.
Slattery WJ,
Edwards DG,
Bell LC, Coventry DR
(1998) Soil acidification and the carbon cycle in a cropping soil of north-eastern Victoria. Australian Journal of Soil Research 36, 273–290.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Tan ZX,
Lal R,
Smeck NE, Calhoun FG
(2004) Relationships between surface soil organic carbon pool and site variables. Geoderma 121, 187–195.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Tisdall JM, Oades JM
(1982) Organic matter and water-stable aggregates in soils. Journal of Soil Science 33, 141–163.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
VandenBygaart AJ
(2001) Erosion and deposition history derived by depth stratigraphy of 137Cs and soil organic carbon. Soil & Tillage Research 61, 187–192.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Verbyla AP,
Cullis BR,
Kenward MG, Welham SJ
(1999) Analysis of designed experiments and longitudinal data by using smoothing splines (with discussion). Applied Statistics 48, 269–312.
Young R,
Wilson BR,
McLeod M, Alston C
(2005) Carbon storage in the soils and vegetation of contrasting land uses in northern New South Wales, Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 43, 21–31.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
