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Lebron, I. et al

Carbon and nitrogen contents of soil organic matter fractions, soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, and soil organic matter of 100 topsoil samples from the UKCEH Countryside Survey, Great Britain, 2019-2020

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https://doi.org/10.5285/4fc8a62b-c971-433e-acc3-23423bb75022
Carbon and nitrogen content (g per g soil) of the free-light fraction (LF), the occluded particulate fraction (OF), the mineral associated organic matter fraction (MAOM), the particulate organic matter (POM = LF+OF), soil organic carbon (SOC), total soil nitrogen (TN) and soil organic matter (SOM from loss-on-ignition) of 100 topsoil samples (0-15 cm) from the UKCEH Countryside Survey 2019/20 are presented.
Publication date: 2024-08-19
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More information

View numbers valid from 19 August 2024 Download numbers valid from 19 August 2024 (information prior to this was not collected)

Format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Spatial information

Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid

Temporal information

Temporal extent
2019-01-01    to    2020-12-31

Provenance & quality

Archived Countryside survey topsoil samples (0-15 cm) were used. These were sieved (2 mm) and airdried prior to archiving.
Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis was performed in four steps using a LECO TGA701. 10 g of samples were heated from 25oC to 105oC (kept constant for 3 h) to determine the hygroscopic moisture. The mass loss between 105oC and 375oC (kept constant for 15.75 h) was used to calculate the soil organic matter content (SOM), the mass loss between 650oC and 100oC gives information on calcium carbonate content of the soils.
Soil organic matter fractions were separated via density fractionation using sodium polytungstene at 1.8 g cm-3). In the first step, the free light fraction (LF-fraction) was separated using 2.5 g archived soil. The pellet was re-suspended, and the occluded fraction was separated and discarded. The residual material was associated with the mineral associated organic matter fraction (MAOM fraction) after re-suspension and cleaning. Two internal standards were used in each batch as well as 10% of replicated samples to account for accuracy and precision.
Carbon and nitrogen contents were measured on a subsample of archived soil, and the LF and MAOM fractions using an Elementar Vario-Elemental analyser (Elementaranalysensysteme GmbH, Hanau, Germany). The UKAS accredited method SOP3102 was used.
Carbon and nitrogen mass fractions were calculated for the LF and MAOM fractions, and the soil. Mass fractions of the occluded fraction (OF) and the particulate organic matter fraction (POM) were calculated using the mass balance equation.
Total soil carbon and MAOM-C are corrected for calcite-C content; LF, OF and POM fractions are not corrected for calcite content because no minerals are expected to be present in organic matter.
LF, MAOM, total soil, and SOC (total soil carbon minus calciate-carbon) were corrected for hygroscopic water content. The OF and POM fractions are automatically corrected for hygroscopic water as they are calculated from corrected masses.

Licensing and constraints

This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

Cite this dataset as:
Lebron, I.; Reinsch, S.; Bentley, L.; Cosby, B.J.; Emmett, B.A.; Keenan, P.; Pereira, G.; Robinson, D.A. (2024). Carbon and nitrogen contents of soil organic matter fractions, soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, and soil organic matter of 100 topsoil samples from the UKCEH Countryside Survey, Great Britain, 2019-2020. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/4fc8a62b-c971-433e-acc3-23423bb75022

Correspondence/contact details

Reinsch, S.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg
Lancaster
Lancashire
LA1 4AP
UNITED KINGDOM
 enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

Authors

Lebron, I.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Reinsch, S.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Bentley, L.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Cosby, B.J.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Emmett, B.A.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Keenan, P.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Pereira, G.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Robinson, D.A.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Other contacts

Rights holder
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk

Additional metadata

Topic categories
environment
INSPIRE theme
Soil
Keywords
carbon , free light fraction , mineral-associated organic matter , nitrogen , occluded light fraction , Soil , Soil organic matter fractionation , topsoil , UKCEH Countryside Survey , UKSCAPE
Funding
Natural Environment Research Council
AI4SoilHealth project Award: Grant No. 101086179
Last updated
21 March 2025 09:37