Location:
Tshane, Botswana
Background:
I’m on the road again, headed north with a team of international researchers to Tshane, Botswana. One of the other researchers, Paolo D'Odorico, is here to examine how the soil’s ability to store carbon is not just good for soil fertility, but for potentially reducing the greenhouse gases that can cause global warming. He is investigating how soils can serve as a way to potentially sequester (or store) the carbon from atmospheric CO2 associated global warming.
Situation:
Above-ground carbon in the form of atmospheric CO2 can be harmful to the environment. Below-ground, however, carbon has many beneficial properties.
Assignment:
What is the role that soil organic carbon plays in the global carbon cycle? How much carbon can different soils sequester (hold). Are some soils able to hold an infinite amount of carbon? If so, could this be a possible solution to global warming?
Quin Here: once CO2 enters the soil through photosynthesis it is fixed and stored in the soils sediments. once the soil erodes or is uncovered by unnatural means, CO2 is let back into the air and begins the cycle again. Therefore my hypothesis is that the denser the soil is or soils with helpful non-erodable plants in it, will store CO2 in the ground at higher levels. based on some research ive found at : http://www.columbia.edu/~vjd1/carbon.htm.