Soil organic carbon of an intensively reclaimed region in China: Current status and carbon sequestration potential

- SOC density of reclaimed land is low and has a great carbon sequestration potential.
- SOC recovery in land reclaimed > 290 years ago is negligible.
- SOC recovery is highly associated with soil pH and cropping systems.
- Flooded land with vegetable-rice cropping is recommended for carbon sequestration.

Land reclamation has been highly intensive in China, resulting in a large amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) loss to the atmosphere. Evaluating the factors which drive SOC dynamics and carbon sequestration potential in reclaimed land is critical for improving soil fertility and mitigating global warming. This study aims to determine the current status and factors important to the SOC density in a typical reclaimed land located in Eastern China, where land reclamation has been undergoing for centuries. A total of 4746 topsoil samples were collected from 2007 to 2010. The SOC density of the reclaimed land (3.18 ± 0.05 kg C m− 2; mean ± standard error) is significantly lower than that of the adjacent non-reclaimed land (5.71 ± 0.04 kg C m− 2) (p < 0.05). A Random Forest model is developed and it captures the relationships between the SOC density and the environmental/anthropogenic factors (R2 = 0.59). The soil pH, land use, and elevation are the most important factors for determining SOC dynamics. In contrast, the effect of the reclamation age on the SOC density is negligible, where SOC content in the land reclaimed during years 1047-1724 is as low as that reclaimed during years 1945-2004. The scenario analysis results indicate that the carbon sequestration potential of the reclaimed lands may achieve a maximum of 5.80 ± 1.81 kg CO2 m− 2 (mean ± SD) when dryland is converted to flooded land with vegetable-rice cropping system and soil pH of ~ 5.9. Note that in some scenarios the methane emission substantially offsets the carbon sequestration potential, especially for continuous rice cropping system. With the optimal setting for carbon sequestration, it is estimated that the dryland reclaimed in the last 50 years in China is able to sequester 0.12 million tons CO2 equivalent per year.

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