Fouché et al. (2023): Accumulation of century-old biochar contributes to carbon storage and stabilization in the subsoil
Julien Fouché, Victor Burgeon, Jeroen Meersmans, Jens Leifeld, Jean-Thomas Cornelis IN: Geoderma, 440, 116717, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2023.116717
The authors focused on leftovers from pre-industrial charcoal kilns as a proxy to study the accrual of century-old biochar in the subsoil (30–100 cm) in comparison to adjacent control soil. Using thermal and elemental analyses as well as size and density fractionations (i.e., separating particulate and mineral-associated organic matter), they determined the distribution of pyrogenic organic C within the soil profile and investigated its stabilization in depth. The authors measured the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations as well as absorbance and fluorescence properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) at different depths to characterize the effects of century-old biochar accumulation on the current leaching of DOM.