Soil carbon

Soil carbon is the solid carbon stored in global soils. This includes both soil organic matter, derived from plant, animal, and microbial tissues, and inorganic carbon as carbonate minerals. Soil carbon contributes to vital functions of soil in ecosystems, including water holding capacity, nutrient retention, and soil structure. Soil carbon is a carbon sink in the global carbon cycle, playing a role in biogeochemistry, climate change mitigation. As such, data on soil carbon quality and change is important to constructing global climate models. Microorganisms play an important role in breaking down carbon in the soil. Changes in their activity due to rising temperatures could possibly influence and even contribute to climate change. Anthropogenic factors have increasingly changed soil carbon distributions. Human activities have caused a massive loss of soil organic carbon; however, there is potential for human activity to intentionally divert carbon back to the soil. Globally, data on soil organic carbon is inconsistent, with some regions having far more comprehensive data than others.