Soil organic carbon

Product Information

Soil organic matter is a key soil component and plays a critical role in a range of physical, chemical and biological soils processes (Baldock 2007).
Soil organic matter:

• provides energy for biological processes (Fontaine et al. 2003) and nutrients N, P, S
• improves the structural stability, influences water retention properties and alters thermal properties
• contributes to cation exchange capacity, enhances pH buffering and complexes cations.

Soil organic carbon is relatively easy to measure. Its concentration is a useful indicator of soil condition and the quantity of soil organic carbon is emerging as a key factor in greenhouse gas mitigation. For these reasons soil organic carbon is a ‘headline’ soil condition indicator both nationally and internationally.

The recommended measures of soil organic carbon are:

• baseline SOC expressed as a percentage and as density (tonnes per hectare)
• change in SOC over time.