Articles | Volume 7, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-661-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-661-2021
Original research article
 | 
11 Oct 2021
Original research article |  | 11 Oct 2021

The effects of sealing on urban soil carbon and nutrients

Roisin O'Riordan, Jess Davies, Carly Stevens, and John N. Quinton

Related authors

Soil degradation assessment across tropical grassland of Western Kenya
John N. Quinton, Gabriel Yesuf, German Baldi, Mengyi Gong, Kelvin Kinuthia, Ellen L. Fry, Yuda Odongo, Barthelemew Nyakundi, Joseph Hitimana, Patricia de Britto Costa, Alice A. Onyango, Sonja M. Leitner, Richard D. Bardgett, and Mariana C. Rufino
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3722,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3722, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for SOIL (SOIL).
Short summary
HESS Opinions: Floods and droughts – are land use, soil management, and landscape hydrology more significant drivers than increasing CO2?
Karl Auerswald, Juergen Geist, John N. Quinton, and Peter Fiener
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2185–2200, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2185-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Organic phosphorus cycling may control grassland responses to nitrogen deposition: a long-term field manipulation and modelling study
Christopher R. Taylor, Victoria Janes-Bassett, Gareth K. Phoenix, Ben Keane, Iain P. Hartley, and Jessica A. C. Davies
Biogeosciences, 18, 4021–4037, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4021-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4021-2021, 2021
Short summary
Particulate macronutrient exports from tropical African montane catchments point to the impoverishment of agricultural soils
Jaqueline Stenfert Kroese, John N. Quinton, Suzanne R. Jacobs, Lutz Breuer, and Mariana C. Rufino
SOIL, 7, 53–70, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-53-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-53-2021, 2021
Short summary

Cited articles

Abdelrahman, H., Hofmann, D., Berns, A. E., Meyer, N., Bol, R., and Borchard, N.: Historical charcoal additions alter water extractable, particulate and bulk soil C composition and stabilization, J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sc., 181, 809–817, https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.201800261, 2018. 
Artmann, M.: Assessment of Soil Sealing Management Responses, Strategies, and Targets Toward Ecologically Sustainable Urban Land Use Management, Ambio, 43, 530–541, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0511-1, 2014. 
Asabere, S. B., Zeppenfeld, T., Nketia, K. A., and Sauer, D.: Urbanization leads to increases in pH, carbonate, and soil organic matter stocks of arable soils of Kumasi, Ghana (West Africa), Frontiers in Environmental Science, 6, 119, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2018.00119, 2018. 
Bradley, R., Milne, R., Bell, J., Lilly, A., Jordan, C., and Higgins, A.: A soil carbon and land use database for the United Kingdom, Soil Use Manage., 21, 363–369, 2005. 
Download
Short summary
As urban populations grow, soil sealing with impermeable surfaces will increase. At present there is limited knowledge on the effect of sealing on soil carbon and nutrients. We found that, in general, sealing reduced soil carbon and nutrients; however, where there were additions due to human activity, soil carbon and nutrients were increased. This suggests that there is a legacy soil carbon store in areas with an industrial past and highlights the influence of artefacts in urban soil.
Share