DEPOSITED SOIL MATTER AND THE CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSION WITHIN THE DON RIVER BASIN
Abstract
An algorithm for calculating the amount of soil matter washed out from the arable lands as a result of accelerated soil erosion for the period of intensive land use (the last 300 years) and associated organic carbon accumulation in deposited matter, as well as the actual carbon dioxide flow from this carbon pool, was proposed. The calculations are based on the current intensity of soil erosion in the river basin and the content of organic matter in the soils, transformed to the period of intensive land use by time-dependent corrections to erosion factors, i. e. climate change, soil conditions and land use. The calculations show that over 300 years about 16,9 109 tons of soil was washed away from the arable lands in the Don River basin (425 000 km2) including 0,41 109 tons of organic carbon. 95% of this matter was accumulated in the bottoms of balkas and dry valleys on the area of 12 900 km2, forming a layer of deposited soils (stratozems) with an average thickness of 0,9–1,0 m. The lower part of the profile of these cumulic soils (below 0,25– 0,45 m) was classified as buried soils, since there is practically no renewal of organic carbon. The organic matter of the buried soils was mineralized and its content decreased in time. The modern uncompensated carbon emission (as CO2) in the Don River basin was calculated to be 1,6–2,1 t/km2 per year, amounting to about 0,5–0,75% of microbial respiration of modern soils in the steppe zone of Russia. Despite rather large amount of organic carbon buried in the cumulic soils, the modern emission of carbon dioxide from this carbon pool formed by the accelerated erosion and accumulation processes does not affect significantly the CO2 budget in the atmosphere. It is thus possible not to consider it in the scenarios of the anthropogenic climate change.
About the Author
A. Yu. Sidorchuk
Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Russian Federation
Faculty of Geography, Leading Scientific Researcher, D.Sc. in Geography.
Russian Federation
Faculty of Geography, Leading Scientific Researcher, D.Sc. in Geography.
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Review
For citations:
Sidorchuk A.Yu. DEPOSITED SOIL MATTER AND THE CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSION WITHIN THE DON RIVER BASIN. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 5, Geografiya. 2018;(4):21-28. (In Russ.)
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