Estimation of soil carbon stocks in buried soils and the effect of burial on soil properties

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No previous study has estimated the soil carbon stocks at depths greater than 1 mbelow the surface soil. In this study, we estimate the soil carbon stocks in buried soils in an area in which the distribution of buried humic soil horizons roughly corresponds to that of Andosols in the Miyakonojo Basin in southern Kyushu, Japan. We also examine the effect of burial on soil properties. In a typical tephra-soil sequence in the Miyakonojo Basin, thesoil carbon stocks at depths greater than 1 m below the surface soil are 1.5 times higher than in the surface soil. Buried soils on the Osumi Peninsula, southern Kyushu, contain a maximum carbon content of 40 g kg-1of soil, even for soils with a thickness of <10 cm that are buried by tephra. In the area of Andosols or tephra deposits, the soils at depths greaterthan 1 m below the surface soil contain substantial amounts of carbon that have yet to beassessed.