Articles | Volume 20, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-827-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-827-2023
Research article
 | 
21 Feb 2023
Research article |  | 21 Feb 2023

Recently fixed carbon fuels microbial activity several meters below the soil surface

Andrea Scheibe, Carlos A. Sierra, and Marie Spohn

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Cited articles

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Berner, R. A.: The rise of plants and their effect on weathering and atmospheric CO2, Science, 276, 544–546, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.276.5312.544, 1997. 
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Short summary
We explored carbon cycling in soils in three climate zones in Chile down to a depth of 6 m, using carbon isotopes. Our results show that microbial activity several meters below the soil surface is mostly fueled by recently fixed carbon and that strong decomposition of soil organic matter only occurs in the upper decimeters of the soils. The study shows that different layers of the critical zone are tightly connected and that processes in the deep soil depend on recently fixed carbon.
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