Advances in digital soil mapping to assess baseline levels and carbon sequestration at the landscape scale

Abstract

Mapping soil carbon, both organic and inorganic carbon, is gaining a lot of attention and interest, as it can be a substantial source and sink for climate change mitigation, food security and ecosystem services. Digital soil mapping and modeling spatiotemporal variations or changes are helpful tools for understanding, planning, and managing soil carbon and its sequestration and greenhouse gas emission. This review discusses factors influencing soil organic carbon distribution over a range of scales, methods for mapping soil carbon variation with depth, and mapping soil carbon change with space and time. Finally, we discuss the need to map soil carbon contribution to soil functions.