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PEDOLOGY

Continental United States Atmospheric Wet Calcium Deposition and Soil Inorganic Carbon Stocks

^a Dep. of Forestry and Natural Resources, Clemson Univ., Clemson, SC 29634-0359
^b Dep. of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, Clemson Univ., Anderson, SC 29625-6510
^c Dep. of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0404

^* Corresponding author (john.galbraith{at}vt.edu).

Organic and inorganic soil C pools are major components of the global C budget, yet they are still poorly estimated and understood. This study ranked atmospheric wet Ca²⁺ deposition from 1994 to 2003 within the continental United States by soil order using spatial analysis of Ca²⁺ wet deposition data and a state soil geographic database. The total average annual atmospheric wet deposition (AAAWD) of Ca²⁺ within the continental United States was 8.6 x 10⁸ kg, which would be equivalent to the theoretical formation of 2.6 x 10⁸ kg C as soil inorganic C (SIC), barring losses from erosion and deep leaching. The soil orders receiving the highest area-normalized total AAAWD of Ca²⁺ were: (i) Alfisols (172 kg km^–2 Ca²⁺), (ii) Mollisols (170 kg km^–2 Ca²⁺), (iii) Histosols (168 kg km^–2 Ca²⁺), and (iv) Vertisols (157 kg km^–2 Ca²⁺). Barring losses from erosion and leaching, these Ca²⁺ wet deposition fluxes would equate to the theoretical formation of the following amounts of area-normalized total C equivalents in the pedon: (i) Alfisols, 52 kg C km^–2; (ii) Mollisols, 51 kg C km^–2; (iii) Histosols, 50 kg C km^–2; and (iv) Vertisols, 47 kg C km^–2. The sequestration of SIC has been shown to be important in soil orders of nonarid regions, particularly in Mollisols and Alfisols.

Abbreviations: AAAWD, average annual atmospheric wet deposition • NADP, National Atmospheric Deposition Program • NTN, National Trends Network • SIC, soil inorganic carbon • STATSGO, State Soil Geographic Database