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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 3, 2025

Utilizing Soil Density Fractionation to Separate Distinct Soil Carbon Pools

Utilizing Soil Density Fractionation to Separate Distinct Soil Carbon Pools

Published on: December 16, 2022

Soil carbon sequestration potential in global croplands.

José Padarian¹, Budiman Minasny¹, Alex McBratney¹

¹Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

|July 27, 2022

Summary

Enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) in global croplands offers significant mitigation potential for climate change. This study quantifies additional SOC storage capacity, providing crucial data for targeted sequestration efforts.

Keywords:

Carbon sequestration Digital soil mapping Neural networks Quantile regression

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Last Updated: Sep 3, 2025

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Published on: October 29, 2016

Area of Science:

Environmental Science
Soil Science
Climate Change Mitigation

Background:

Improving soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key strategy for climate change mitigation.
Global estimates of SOC sequestration potential are debated and lack regional specificity.
Understanding additional storage potential in global croplands is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

To model and quantify the SOC storage potential in global croplands.
To identify regions with higher SOC storage capacity.
To estimate the additional carbon sequestration potential in topsoils.

Main Methods:

Utilized 83,416 SOC observations from global databases.
Developed a quantile regression neural network model.
Modeled SOC storage as a function of climate, land cover, and soil characteristics.

Main Results:

Global croplands' topsoils (0-30 cm) currently hold 83 Pg C.
Additional SOC storage potential ranges from 29 to 65 Pg C.
This potential could offset 35% of agriculture's historical carbon debt.

Conclusions:

SOC storage potential is region-specific and influenced by environmental factors.
Climate change is projected to reduce SOC storage potential by 14% by 2040.
Results guide targeted SOC sequestration efforts and highlight agriculture's environmental impact.