Soil carbon stock and its relationship with physical and chemical characteristics in soil of different land-uses in Zagros region

The present study aimed at estimating the amount of carbon storage and its relationship with other physical and chemical soil properties in four land-use systems including intact, protected, exploited and garden-uses areas in the northern Zagros region in west Azarbaijan Province, Iran. Thirty sample plots were identified and within each plot, soil samples were taken in each land use and each same unit, and some soil properties including organic carbon, bulk density, texture, saturation, percent porosity, pH, electrical conductivity, total nitrogen, lime, phosphorus and potassium solution were analyzed. The carbon storage in 0-15 and 15-50 cm of soil in different land-uses was respectively in intact area, 90.96 and 128.92 tons per hectare, in protected area, 82.85 and 173.99 tons per hectare, in exploited area, 78.26 and 119.26, and in garden-uses area, 34.75 and 58.95 tons per hectare. The results of statistical tests showed that there are significant correlation between the amount of lime, sand, silt, porosity, bulk density, saturation, potassium, phosphorus, conductivity, organic carbon, C/N, and the amount of carbon storage. Based on the modeling, the percentage of organic carbon, bulk density and porosity percentage had the greatest impacts on the amount of carbon storage.