Carbon Storage and Potential Carbon Sequestration in Depressional Wetlands of the Mid-Atlantic Region

Abstract

With recent concern over climate change, methods for decreasing atmospheric levels of greenhouse gasses such as CO2 have been of particular interest, including carbon sequestration in soils that have depreciated levels of carbon from cultivated agricultural crop production. The Delmarva Peninsula contains many Delmarva Bay landforms, which commonly contain wetlands. Five pairs of Delmarva Bays were selected to examine change in carbon stocks following conversion to agriculture and to assess the potential for carbon sequestration if these soils were to be restored hydrologically and vegetatively. A loss of approximately 50 % of the stored soil carbon was observed following the conversion to agriculture. If these agricultural soils were to be restored, the wetland soils within the Delmarva Bay basin are predicted to sequester a total of approximately 11 kg C m-2 and the upland soils of the rim would be expected to sequester a total of approximately 4 kg C m-2.