Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 12, 2026

Assessment of Labile Organic Carbon in Soil Using Sequential Fumigation Incubation Procedures
Published on: October 29, 2016
Microbial oxidation of lithospheric organic carbon in rapidly eroding tropical mountain soils
Jordon D Hemingway1,2, Robert G Hilton3, Niels Hovius4,5
1Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. jordon_hemingway@fas.harvard.edu.
Abstract:
Lithospheric organic carbon ("petrogenic"; OCpetro) is oxidized during exhumation and subsequent erosion of mountain ranges. This process is a considerable source of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere over geologic time scales, but the mechanisms that govern oxidation rates in mountain landscapes are poorly constrained. We demonstrate that, on average, 67 ± 11% of the OCpetro initially present in bedrock exhumed from the tropical, rapidly eroding Central Range of Taiwan is oxidized in soils, leading to CO2 emissions of 6.1 to 18.6 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer per year. The molecular and isotopic evolution of bulk OC and lipid biomarkers during soil formation reveals that OCpetro remineralization is microbially mediated. Rapid oxidation in mountain soils drives CO2 emission fluxes that increase with erosion rate, thereby counteracting CO2 drawdown by silicate weathering and biospheric OC burial.
Related Concept Videos
The Soil Ecosystem
The Carbon Cycle
Oxidation and Reduction of Organic Molecules
The removal of an electron from a molecule, results in a...
Oxidation Numbers
Phase I Reactions: Oxidation of Carbon-Heteroatom and Miscellaneous Systems
In carbon-nitrogen systems, aliphatic and aromatic amines can undergo oxidative reactions. Secondary and tertiary amines, like those found in tricyclic antidepressants, can undergo N-dealkylation, a process that involves the oxidation of the alkyl group. In addition, oxidative...
Phase I Reactions: Oxidation of Aliphatic and Aromatic Carbon-Containing Systems
Oxidation reactions are fundamental in aromatic carbon-containing systems. An example is the hydroxylation of phenobarbital, a process that transforms it into...

