Deep soil contributions to global nitrogen budgets
Maya Almaraz1,2, Chao Wang3, Michelle Y Wong4,5
1Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. maya.almaraz@yale.edu.
Nature Communications
|January 23, 2025
Summary
Deep soil nitrate reservoirs are more widespread than previously thought, significantly impacting global nitrogen budgets. This study quantines these crucial deep soil nitrogen pools across diverse ecosystems.
Area of Science:
- Soil Science
- Biogeochemistry
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Previous deep soil inorganic nitrogen (N) reservoir estimates were primarily limited to desert soils.
- Emerging evidence indicates deep soil N pools are ubiquitous across various biomes.
- These deep pools may play a significant role in global nitrogen budgets.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the geospatial variation of deep soil nitrate.
- To estimate the total deep soil nitrate pool across diverse ecosystems.
- To understand the role of deep soils in the global nitrogen cycle.
Main Methods:
- Utilized observations from 280 deep soil profiles (ranging from 2 to 205 meters).
- Analyzed data across a wide array of ecosystem and land cover types.
- Employed a random forest machine learning approach for estimation.
Main Results:
- Estimated a total deep soil nitrate pool of 15.2 (± 1.1 SD) Pg of N.
- Incorporating these estimates increased the global soil N storage budget by 16%.
- Demonstrated the widespread presence of deep soil nitrate beyond desert environments.
Conclusions:
- Deep soil nitrate pools are substantial and globally significant.
- These findings enhance our understanding of soils as a sink for anthropogenic fixed nitrogen.
- Deep soils are critical components of the Earth's biosphere and nitrogen cycle.
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