Importance of Iron and Soil Physicochemical Properties to Stabilize Organic Carbon in Soils

Abstract:

Global warming can potentially accelerate the decomposition of forest soil organic matter (SOM), as a source of greenhouse gas emissions. Understanding the fate of forest SOM is important for evaluating and managing the global carbon cycle during climate change. Iron minerals play an important role in stabilizing organic carbon (OC) and regulating the biogeochemical cycle in the soil environment, but there is only limited information available concerning how iron-mediated OC stabilization is affected by physicochemical properties of soil. This study investigated the behavior of iron-bound OC in soils collected from 14 forests across the United States, and the impact of soil physicochemical properties on the stabilization of OC by iron minerals. The bicarbonate-citrate-dithionite (BCD) method was used to reduce iron in soil samples, and OC content was characterized prior and after reduction to quantify iron-bound OC. We found that iron-bound OC contributed 1.2 - 57.7 weight % of total OC in forest soils. Atomic ratios of iron-bound OC:Fe ranged from 0.006 to 0.178, indicating the importance of sorptive interactions. The fraction of iron-bound OC was more closely correlated to the molar ratio of iron-bound OC:Fe than the absolute concentration of reactive iron, which is ranged from 0.08 to 19.31 mg/g. Iron-bound OC was enriched in ¹³C compared to the non-iron-bound SOM. There were significant correlations between the total N concentration and total or non-iron bound OC, but not with iron-bound OC. Overall, iron minerals mainly stabilize ¹³C-enriched non-nitrogenous OC, which was almost regulated by the sorptive association between iron and OC. Our results illustrate the importance of understanding the stabilization of OC in soil, and the coupled biogeochemical processes of carbon and iron.