Budgets of soil erosion and deposition for sediments and sedimentary organic carbon across the conterminous United States

The fate of soil organic matter during erosion and sedimentation has been difficult to assess because of the large size and complex turnover characteristics of the soil carbon reservoir. It has been assumed that most of the carbon released during erosion is lost to oxidation. Budgets of bulk soil and soil organic carbon erosion and deposition suggest that the primary fates of eroded soil carbon across the conterminous United States are trapping in impoundments and other redeposition. The total amount of soil carbon eroded and redeposited across the United States is ∼0.04 Gt yr−1. Applying this revision to the U. S. carbon budget by Houghton et al. [1999] raises their net sequestration estimate by 20–47 %. If comparable rates of erosion and redeposition occur globally, net carbon sequestration would be ∼1 Gt yr−1.

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