Articles | Volume 12, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-165-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-165-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Original research article
| 
06 Mar 2026
Original research article |
| 06 Mar 2026
| 06 Mar 2026
Modelling long-term soil organic carbon sequestration under varying environmental drivers and internal protection mechanisms – towards a digital twin
W. Marijn van der Meij
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 45, 50674 Cologne, Germany
Peter Finke
Department of Environment, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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This study investigated how land use, through its impact on soil geochemistry, might indirectly control soil organic carbon (SOC) content in tropical volcanic soils in Indonesia. We analyzed SOC fractions, substrate-specific mineralization, and net priming of SOC. Our results indicated that the enhanced formation of aluminum (hydr)oxides promoted aggregation and physical occlusion of OC, which is consistent with the lesser degradability of SOC in agricultural soils.
W. Marijn van der Meij, Arnaud J. A. M. Temme, Steven A. Binnie, and Tony Reimann
Geochronology, 5, 241–261, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-241-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-241-2023, 2023
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We present our model ChronoLorica. We coupled the original Lorica model, which simulates soil and landscape evolution, with a geochronological module that traces cosmogenic nuclide inventories and particle ages through simulations. These properties are often measured in the field to determine rates of landscape change. The coupling enables calibration of the model and the study of how soil, landscapes and geochronometers change under complex boundary conditions such as intensive land management.
W. Marijn van der Meij
SOIL, 8, 381–389, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-381-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-381-2022, 2022
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Short-scale soil variability has received much less attention than at the regional scale. The chemical depletion fraction (CDF), a proxy for chemical weathering, was measured and simulated with SoilGen along two opposite slopes in southern Spain. The results show that differences in CDF could not be explained by topography alone but by hydrological parameters. The model sensitivity test shows the maximum CDF value for intermediate precipitation has similar findings to other soil properties.
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Short summary
We used soil evolution model SoilGen to simulate long-term soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration under varying environmental conditions and internal protection mechanisms. Our results revealed a strong role of pedogenetic and environmental history on current-day and future SOC sequestration potential. We propose a framework for developing topical digital twins of long-term soil processes to monitor and project future development of specific soil properties under global change.
We used soil evolution model SoilGen to simulate long-term soil organic carbon (SOC)...
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