Re: rothamsted

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Thomas Goreau

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Aug 17, 2015, 9:14:51 PM8/17/15
to Tom Newmark, Soil Age
Thanks, Tom!

These all show the same thing qualitatively: soil carbon rapidly is decomposed over decades when there is no new carbon supply from the living vegetation, but the rate varies depending on the starting conditions and climate.

The data in this paper must refer to different experimental plot than that in the paper by Jenkinson and and Rayner, whose starting date was 1850!

Best wishes,
Tom


Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
President, Global Coral Reef Alliance
President, Biorock Technology Inc.
Coordinator, Soil Carbon Alliance
Coordinator, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development Small Island Developing States Partnership in New Sustainable Technologies
37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

Books:

Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase

Innovative Methods of Marine Ecosystem Restoration

The Green Disc, New Technologies for a New Future: Innovative Methods for Sustainable Development

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On Aug 17, 2015, at 10:36 AM, Tom Newmark <tnew...@tnewmark.com> wrote:

Tom, see page 3842.  You piqued my curiosity about Rothamsted and the long-term bare fallow site.  According to this paper, it’s been bare fallow since 1959, and the organic carbon level in the soil has dropped from 30% to 10%.  But wait!  It wasn’t benign neglect.  The bare fallow was achieved by regular plowing and the application of herbicides.

This trial was supposed to reveal how much of the soil carbon was labile vs. stable, but the design failed to consider that regular plowing, without more, could convert stable carbon in the form of humus into labile carbon.  

Best

Tom
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