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The impact of agricultural soil erosion on the global carbon cycle

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Van Oost, Kristof [UCL] Quine, T. A. Govers, G. De Gryze, Steven [UCL] Six, J. Merckx, Roel [UCL]

Agricultural soil erosion is thought to perturb the global carbon cycle, but estimates of its effect range from a source of 1 petagram per year(-1) to a sink of the same magnitude. By using caesium-137 and carbon inventory measurements from a large-scale survey, we found consistent evidence for an erosion-induced sink of atmospheric carbon equivalent to approximately 26% of the carbon transported by erosion. Based on this relationship, we estimated a global carbon sink of 0.12 (range 0.06 to 0.27) petagrams of carbon per year(-1) resulting from erosion in the world's agricultural landscapes. Our analysis directly challenges the view that agricultural erosion represents an important source or sink for atmospheric CO2.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2007
Language Anglais
Journal information "Science" - Vol. 318, no. 5850, p. 626-629 (2007)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Amer Assoc Advancement Science (Washington)
issn 0036-8075
e-issn 1095-9203
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SC/GEO - Département de géologie et de géographie
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Bibliographic reference Van Oost, Kristof ; Quine, T. A. ; Govers, G. ; De Gryze, Steven ; Six, J. ; et. al. The impact of agricultural soil erosion on the global carbon cycle. In: Science, Vol. 318, no. 5850, p. 626-629 (2007)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/37300