Modeling and prediction of C dynamics in soil chronosequences of the critical zone observatory (CZO) Marchfeld/Austria

Abstract Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the one of the major soil components influencing soil functions and soil processes. However, little is known about the impact of human activities on SOC dynamics. We therefore analyzed the impact of land use and climatic changes and tillage on a soil chronosequence with ages between 10and 8000 years developed on sediments of the River Danube in the critical zone observatory (CZO) Marchfeld/Austria by modeling the soil carbon pools at a depth of 0–20 cm. For this we used the Excel version of the RothC-26.3 Model (Rampazzo Todorovic et al., 2010), which was improved for predicting the influence of different tillage and land uses and calibrated for local climatic conditions. The modeled results indicate the complex influence of soil properties on C stabilization, e.g. clay content. In summary, it was found that a change in land use from forest to grassland and cropping resulted in a clear decrease in the amount and quality of SOC.