How Soils Store Carbon?
Carbon is stored as soil organic matter in soil clumps, or aggregates, for different lengths of time. These aggregates range in size. Many variables influence the formation of aggregates, including temperature, rainfall, and soil fauna and mineralogy, as well as land management. In smaller aggregates the organic matter bonds physically to the minerals in the soil; some soil organic matter pools can store carbon for centuries. Prairie Restoration and Carbon Sequestration At FermiLab, west of Chicago, tallgrass prairie plots have been established every year since 1975 on cropland that had been cultivated for more than a century. Researchers are studying the effects of prairie restoration on carbon cycling and sequestration over time. Researchers found that soil aggregates increase rapidly following prairie restoration—35 times faster than carbon accumulates in the soil. However, after ten growing seasons, soil carbon concentration was only 45 percent of virgin prairie, which underscores
