Soil Erosion and Carbon Dioxide

The projected warming of global climate and the degradation of land resources by erosion are among the most pressing environmental challenges of the modern era. Although fossil fuel burning is the primary contributor to the current atmospheric CO₂ buildup, it is estimated that agriculture and land-use change contributed 24% of total anthropogenic emissions of CO₂. In soils, evolution of CO₂ occurs through soil respiration which includes root respiration and the microbial decomposition of crop residues and soil humus. This entry proposes that water erosion, as a mechanism for SOC removal, has a profound effect on the global CO₂ budget, and presents an approach to assess erosion-induced CO₂ emission into the atmosphere.