Articles | Volume 10, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-275-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-275-2024
SOIL Letters
 | Highlight paper
 | 
15 Apr 2024
SOIL Letters | Highlight paper |  | 15 Apr 2024

The six rights of how and when to test for soil C saturation

Johan Six, Sebastian Doetterl, Moritz Laub, Claude R. Müller, and Marijn Van de Broek

Related authors

Limited effect of organic matter addition on stabilised organic carbon in four tropical arable soils
Marijn Van de Broek, Fiona Stewart-Smith, Moritz Laub, Marc Corbeels, Monicah Wanjiku Mucheru-Muna, Daniel Mugendi, Wycliffe Waswa, Bernard Vanlauwe, and Johan Six
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2287,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2287, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for SOIL (SOIL).
Short summary
Spatiotemporal variability of CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes from a semi-deciduous tropical forest soil in the Congo Basin
Roxanne Daelman, Marijn Bauters, Matti Barthel, Emmanuel Bulonza, Lodewijk Lefevre, José Mbifo, Johan Six, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Benjamin Wolf, Ralf Kiese, and Pascal Boeckx
Biogeosciences, 22, 1529–1542, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1529-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1529-2025, 2025
Short summary
A microbially driven and depth-explicit soil organic carbon model constrained by carbon isotopes to reduce parameter equifinality
Marijn Van de Broek, Gerard Govers, Marion Schrumpf, and Johan Six
Biogeosciences, 22, 1427–1446, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025, 2025
Short summary
Green water availability and water-limited crop yields under a changing climate in Ethiopia
Mosisa Tujuba Wakjira, Nadav Peleg, Johan Six, and Peter Molnar
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 863–886, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-863-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-863-2025, 2025
Short summary
Aquatic and Soil CO2 Emissions from forested wetlands of Congo's Cuvette Centrale
Antoine de Clippele, Astrid C. H. Jaeger, Simon Baumgartner, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Clement Botefa, Glenn Bush, Jessica Carilli, Travis W. Drake, Christian Ekamba, Gode Lompoko, Nivens Bey Mukwiele, Kristof Van Oost, Roland A. Werner, Joseph Zambo, Johan Six, and Matti Barthel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3313,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3313, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Soils and biogeochemical cycling
Isotopic exchangeability reveals that soil phosphate is mobilised by carboxylate anions, whereas acidification had the reverse effect
Siobhan Staunton and Chiara Pistocchi
SOIL, 11, 389–394, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-389-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-389-2025, 2025
Short summary
Calcium is associated with specific soil organic carbon decomposition products
Mike C. Rowley, Jasquelin Pena, Matthew A. Marcus, Rachel Porras, Elaine Pegoraro, Cyrill Zosso, Nicholas O. E. Ofiti, Guido L. B. Wiesenberg, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Margaret S. Torn, and Peter S. Nico
SOIL, 11, 381–388, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-381-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-381-2025, 2025
Short summary
Gradual drying of permafrost peat decreases carbon dioxide production in drier peat plateaus but not in wetter fens and bogs
Aelis Spiller, Cynthia M. Kallenbach, Melanie S. Burnett, David Olefeldt, Christopher Schulze, Roxane Maranger, and Peter M. J. Douglas
SOIL, 11, 371–379, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-371-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-371-2025, 2025
Short summary
Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus amendments on CO2 and CH4 production in peat soils of Scotty Creek, Northwest Territories: potential considerations for wildfire and permafrost thaw impacts on peatland carbon exchanges
Eunji Byun, Fereidoun Rezanezhad, Stephanie Slowinski, Christina Lam, Saraswati Bhusal, Stephanie Wright, William L. Quinton, Kara L. Webster, and Philippe Van Cappellen
SOIL, 11, 309–321, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-309-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-309-2025, 2025
Short summary
Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of soil respiration in a bare-soil Mediterranean olive grove
Sergio Aranda-Barranco, Penélope Serrano-Ortiz, Andrew S. Kowalski, and Enrique P. Sánchez-Cañete
SOIL, 11, 213–232, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-213-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-213-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Amelung, W. and Zech, W.: Minimisation of organic matter disruption during particle-size fractionation of grassland epipedons, Geoderma, 92, 73–85, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7061(99)00023-3, 1999. 
Beare, M. H., McNeill, S. J., Curtin, D., Parfitt, R. L., Jones, H. S., Dodd, M. B., and Sharp, J.: Estimating the organic carbon stabilisation capacity and saturation deficit of soils: a New Zealand case study, Biogeochemistry, 120, 71–87, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-014-9982-1, 2014. 
Begill, N., Don, A., and Poeplau, C.: No detectable upper limit of mineral-associated organic carbon in temperate agricultural soils, Glob. Change Biol., 29, 4662–4669, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16804, 2023. 
Cotrufo, M. F., Ranalli, M. G., Haddix, M. L., Six, J., and Lugato, E.: Soil carbon storage informed by particulate and mineral-associated organic matter, Nat. Geosci., 12, 989–994, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0484-6, 2019. 
Feng, W., Plante, A. F., and Six, J.: Improving estimates of maximal organic carbon stabilization by fine soil particles, Biogeochemistry, 112, 81–93, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-011-9679-7, 2013. 
Download
Executive editor
This manuscript is published as SOIL Letters publication as it provides a timely and important contribution, formulating six fundamental principles for the robust study of soil carbon saturation. This is an important topic in research on soil carbon and its role in climate change mitigation which should be of interest to the wider geoscience community.
Short summary
Soil C saturation has been tested in several recent studies and led to a debate about its existence. We argue that, to test C saturation, one should pay attention to six fundamental principles: the right measures, the right units, the right dispersive energy and application, the right soil type, the right clay type, and the right saturation level. Once we take care of those six rights across studies, we find support for a maximum of C stabilized by minerals and thus soil C saturation.
Share