New SOIL Letter: The six rights of how and when to test for soil C saturation

15 April 2024

Soil C saturation has been tested in several recent studies and led to a debate about its existence. The authors argue that, to test C saturation, one should pay attention to six fundamental principles: the right measures, the right units, the right dispersive energy and application, the right soil type, the right clay type, and the right saturation level. Once you take care of those six rights across studies, you find support for a maximum of C stabilized by minerals and thus soil C saturation.

Executive editor's statement: This manuscript is published as SOIL Letters publication as it provides a timely and important contribution, formulating six fundamental principles for the robust study of soil carbon saturation. This is an important topic in research on soil carbon and its role in climate change mitigation which should be of interest to the wider geoscience community.

Contact: Johan Six (jsix@ethz.ch)