[Profile distribution and storage of soil organic carbon in a black soil as affected by land use types]

Taking soils in a long-term experimental field over 29 years with different land uses types, including arable land, bare land, grassland and larch forest land as test materials, the distribution and storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) in the profile (0-200 cm) in typical black soil (Mollisol) region of China were investigated. The results showed that the most significant differences in SOC content occurred in the 0-10 cm surface soil layer among all soils with the order of grassland > arable land > larch forest land > bare land. SOC contents at 10-120 cm depth were lower in arable land as compared with the other land use types. Compared with arable land, grassland could improve SOC content obviously. SOC content down to a depth of 60 cm in grassland was significantly higher than that in arable land. The content of SOC at 0-10 cm in bare land was significantly lower than that in arable land. Although there were no significant differences in SOC content at 0-20 cm depth between larch forestland and arable land, the SOC contents at 20-140 cm depth were generally higher in larch forestland than that in arable land. In general, SOC content showed a significantly negative relationship with soil pH, bulk density, silt and clay content and an even stronger significantly positive relationship with soil total N content and sand content. The SOC storage in arable land at 0-200 cm depth was significantly lower than that in the other three land use types, which was 13.6%, 11.4% and 10.9% lower than in grassland, bare land and larch forest land, respectively. Therefore, the arable land of black soil has a great potential for sequestering C in soil and improving environmental quality.