DISTRIBUTION AND VARIABILITY OF CARBON STOCKS IN MID-ATLANTIC TIDAL MARSH SOILS

Abstract

Tidal marsh wetlands have the capacity to store disproportionately large quantities of Cdespite their small areal extent. Good estimations of this “blue C” are now more critical than ever due to implications for the global C cycle and climate change, especially since C storage in tidal marshes has historically been understudied. In this study, we set out to measure, more accurately estimate, and conceptually model the C stocks in representative tidal marshes of the Mid-Atlantic region. We found that C storage differs significantly in marshes formed among various pedogeomorphic settings due to differences in pedogenic processes and soil morphology. Further, we have demonstrated that the mean C densities of particular soil materials can be used in conjunction with soil morphological descriptions to reliably estimate the C stocks in the absence of laboratory data. Finally, we augmented existing concepts of tidal marshes in the region by incorporating newly gained understandings of the spatial changes in morphology and C stocks across marshes within different pedogeomorphic settings.