EDAFOLOGIA, Vol. 11 (3), pp. 309-317, 2004
SECUESTRO DE CARBONO INORGÁNICO EN EL SUELO: UNA PRIMERA ESTIMACIÓN EN EL ÁMBITO SEMIÁRIDO ESPAÑOL
INORGANIC CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN SOIL: A FIRST APPROACH IN SPANISH SEMIARID FIELD
J. SÁNCHEZ; L. RECATALÁ; M. GOBERNA
Departamento de Planificación territorial, CIDE-Centro de Investigaciones sobre De- sertificación (CSIC, Universitat de València, Generalitat Valenciana), Apartado Oficial, C/ Camí de la Marjal S/N, 46470-Albal (Valencia, España)
In the last years, the importance of the soil has been projected like carbon sink. The reason is because the organic carbon in soil means the major stock of this element in the terrestrial ecosystems, so its stock and sequestration can be basic to deaden the greenhouse effect. However, a few estimations have been made about the inorganic carbon stock in soil, in spite of being capture in stable forms like calcium car- bonate. In this work, it is showed an estimate about the total content of inorganic carbon in the soils of se- miarid Spain, in general, and in the autonomous communities of Valencia and Castilla-La Mancha, in particular. The numbers obtained are situated close to 4.8, 0.3 and 0.3 Pg C-CO32- in 1 meter of depth, res- pectively. Assumed all the uncertainties in the calculation, this first valuation tries to show the relevant paper that the semiarid fields can play, through the carbon sequestration in inorganic forms, to mitigate the gre- enhouse effect. This roll can mean a new challenge to try mitigating the effects of some processes of deser- tification in these places, which can reduce significantly their potential of carbon sequestration in soil.
Keywords: Carbon sequestration, inorganic carbon, semiarid field, Spain, Community Valenciana, Castilla-La Mancha