Soil carbon data from a regeneratively tilled Miscanthus plantation in Lincolnshire with paired untilled and arable controls

Data from 2011 was generated from 0- 30cm soil cores taken from fifteen randomly selected sampling plots per field (Miscanthus and Arable) using Sampled were taken using a split-tube soil sampler With samples divided into 15 cm depth increments. In 2016, the same sampling procedure was applied but the sampling depth was extended at 3 sampling locations to 1 m using a window sampler system, with samples divided into 10 cm increments.

Laboratory processing to determine oven-dry soil mass, soil moisture content, root and stone mass and volume followed methods used in the GB Countryside Survey. Assessment of carbon content was performed on oven dried (105c) ball milled sub samples using an elemental analyser, with standards. Prior to analysis samples were treated with Hydrochloric acid (HCL) to remove inorganic C.

Due to changes in bulk density between land uses and over time the “Lincoln_Miscanthus_Soil_C_Data” dataset should not be used directly for the comparison of impacts of land use or land management on soil C stocks. For such a comparison, the “Lincoln_Miscanthus_ESM_Soil_C_Data” database should be used.

This provides data converted to carbon content on an equivalent soil mass (ESM) basis specifically for use in the comparison of land management impacts. ESM used a reference dry soil mass of 4,000 Mg ha−1 and 10,390 Mg ha-1 for the 0–30 cm and 0–70 cm soil depths, respectively, following the equation below. The reference soil masses are based on the median soil mass across all cores for each depth (following Gifford & Roderick, 2003).

Equation 2:

SCESM = SC upper + (ConcLower (Mref - Mupper))

SCESM is the soil C stock based on the selected equivalent soil mass (Mg C ha-1), SCupper is the C stock (Mg C ha-1) of the upper soil section, ConcLower is the C concentration of the lower layer (%C), Mref is the reference mass selected (Mg ha-1) and Mupper is the soil mass of the upper core sections (Mg ha-1). Summed values of the 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm were used as the upper section with 20–30 cm as the lower section. In the 0–70 cm depth the upper section defined as the 0–60 cm layer and the lower section being the 60–70 cm layer.

The “Lincoln_Miscanthus_Soil_C_Data” can be used for model development or to calculate soil C stock impacts using alternative methods which account for bulk density changes.

Related datasets

Eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide, energy and water fluxes at a commercial Miscanthus x. giganteus plantation, Lincolnshire, UK, 2013 to 2017