The phosphorus concentration of common rocks-a potential driver of ecosystem P status

Abstract

Background: Soil phosphorus (P) availability can be an important regulator of ecosystem processes. Changes in P availability over time have long been studied, but the P concentration of soil parent materials-which determines ecosystem P concentration at the onset of soil formation-have never been systematically explored. Here we ask two questions: 1) how does P concentration vary among soil parent materials? and 2) under what range of conditions do those differences influence soil P concentration? Methods: We used the Earthchem webportal to compile the P concentration of 263,539 rocks. We then gathered data from 62 sites (MAT ranging from 200-5,000 mm yr-1 and soil age from 0.3-4,100 ky) and assessed the correlation between rock and soil P concentration. Results: We found a 30 fold difference in median P concentration among rock types, ranging from 120 ppm (several ultramafic rocks) to >3,000 ppm (several alkali basalts). Median P was significantly lower in common silica-rich rocks (e.g. granite - 436 ppm) and higher in common iron-rich rocks (e.g. andesite - 1,000 ppm). In sedimentary rocks, which make up 70 % of the ice-free land surface, median P was highest in mudstone (1,135 ppm) and decreased with increasing grainsize (siltstone-698 ppm, sandstone-500 ppm). Where soil P and parent material P were measured in the same site, parent material P explained 42 % of the variance in total soil P (n = 62), and explanatory power was higher for sites with similar climate. Conclusion: The variation in P concentration among common rock types is on a comparable scale to the changes in total P, and several P pools, over long-term soil development. Quantifying these differences may be an important step towards characterizing regional and global variation in soil and ecosystem P status. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.