Data on carbon fraction in subsoil under forest published by the DFG research group SUBSOM.

As a part of the DFG-funded research unit SUBSOM (FOR1806; see http://www.subsom.de/index.php?id=36), Patrick Liebmann (University of Hannover) and colleagues studied the contribution of litter-derived carbon (C) in the formation of subsoil organic matter (OM). The dataset shows the results from an extensive field labeling approach using 13C-enriched litter in a northern German beech forest. Soil core sampling at two time points, density fractionation, and water extractions were used to track its contribution to different functional OM fractions down to the deep subsoil (> 100 cm). The scientists could show that while migrating down the soil profile, OM undergoes a sequence of repeated sorption, microbial processing, and desorption. However, the contribution of litter-derived C to subsoil OM is small.

The dataset consists of three parts (https://doi.org/10.20387/BONARES-HZGX-GB9S, https://doi.org/10.20387/BONARES-69H2-56Q9, https://doi.org/10.20387/BONARES-DNDW-5T58).

The manuscript was recently accepted for the journal Biogeosciences and will be published in due course (Preprint: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2019-465).

© P. Liebmann