XPost: sci.chem, sci.energy, alt.politics.economics
XPost: sci.physics
jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:
Where do you think it ended up,
Most of the approximately 2000 or so Gigatons of
soil carbon that have been destroyed by centuries
of flawed agricultural practices has been released to
the atmosphere as volatile gasses.
Only if the material containing the carbon gets burned and turned into
CO or CO2
No that's wrong. Normal biological activity converts
organic material into CO2. Tillage greatly accelerates
the release of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Most of the carbon in soil is in the form of cellulose from dead decaying plants. It does not break down into CO or CO2 due to tilling
Tilling does in fact release CO2, CO and CH4.
But you know that, which is why you snipped
the scientific study that quantifies how much
is released. Tilling under crop residue with a
conventional moldboard plow releases more carbon
into the air than is contained in the crop
residue.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1009766510274
The USDA reports that more than 1/3 of
US crop land is now planted with no tillage.
"A reduction in how often or how intensively the soil is
tilled allows the soil to retain more organic matter,
which stores or “sequesters” carbon, which then is not
available to contribute to global warming as carbon
dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. The adoption of less
intensive tillage practices on a large number of farms
could sequester substantial amounts of carbon" www.ers.usda.gov/media/135329/eib70.pdf
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