Soil organic carbon, soil formation and soil fertility

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a vital role in soil formation. The accumulation of SOC is one of the initial soil forming processes and is determined by physical, chemical, biological and anthropogenic factors with complex interactions. On the other hand, SOC and its composition influences other soil forming processes like leaching of cations, soil acidification, gleying including Fe-reduction and podzolization. As SOC is strongly correlated with soil organic nitrogen (SON) and nitrogen being the most widespread constraint for biomass production on cropland, SOC content and composition is a determining factor for soil productivity on well drained soils. Thus, SOC is an effective contributor to the supporting ecosystem services of soil formation on the global land surface and at the same time it positively affects the provisioning ecosystem services (ESs) for supplying food, feed and fiber.