Boreal ecosystems comprise one tenth of the world’s land surface and contain over 20 % of the global soil carbon (C) stocks. Boreal soils are unique in that its mineral soil is covered by what can be quite thick layers of organic soil. These organic soil layers, or horizons, can differ in their state of decomposition, source vegetation, and disturbance history. These differences result in varying soil properties (bulk density, C concentration, and nitrogen (N) concentration) among soil horizons. Here we summarize these soil properties, as represented by over 3000 samples from Interior Alaska, and examine how soil drainage and stand age affect these attributes. The summary values presented here can be used to gap-fill large datasets when important soil properties were not measured, provide data to initialize process-based models, and validate model results. These data are available at https://doi.org/10.5066/P960N1F9 (Manies, 2019).
- Digital Object Identifier: 10.5194/essd-12-1745-2020
- Source: USGS Publications Warehouse (indexId: 70211994)
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Kristen Manies
Mark P Waldrop, Ph.D.
Research Soil Scientist
Jennifer Harden, PhD
Scientist Emeritus
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Kristen Manies
EmailPhoneMark P Waldrop, Ph.D.
Research Soil ScientistEmailPhoneJennifer Harden, PhD
Scientist EmeritusEmailPhone