Carbon Stocks in Harran Plain Soils, Sanliurfa, Turkey

Abstract

Soils are an important component of the global carbon cycle and can be net sources or sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The goals of the present study were to analyze the soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) content of Harran Plain soil in Sanliurfa, Turkey, part of the Southeast Anatolia region (SAR), and to estimate carbon stocks (CSs) in soil series that are representative of arid and semiarid lands. To this end, soil samples were collected from 16 profiles in the Harran Plain at depths of 100, 120, and 160 cm of the genetic horizons, and the SOC stocks in the three soil depths were estimated. The carbon stock was 56.41 Tg of C in the 0-100 cm layer, 67.80 Tg of C in the 0-120 cm layer and 87.91 Tg of C in the 0-160 cm layer. For the three soil depths 100, 120, and 160 cm, the SOC content ranged from 6.33 to 11.04, 7.11 to 11.98 and 8.72 to 16.53 kg of C m-2, respectively, and the soil inorganic carbon content ranged from 8.83 to 19.26, 11.00 to 23.34 and 14.82 to 32.64 kg of C m-2, respectively.