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Cited by 153Soil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsSoil erosion and sediment transportSoil Geostatistics and Mapping

Soil carbon saturation: what do we really know?

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Georgiou, Katerina, Angers, Denis, Champiny, Ryan E., Cotrufo, M. Francesca, Craig, Matthew E., Doetterl, Sebastian, Grandy, A. Stuart, Lavallee, Jocelyn M. +7 more·2025·Global Change Biology
DOI 10.1111/gcb.70197PMC PMC12062940
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Abstract

Managing soils to increase organic carbon storage presents a potential opportunity to mitigate and adapt to global change challenges, while providing numerous co-benefits and ecosystem services. However, soils differ widely in their potential for carbon sequestration, and knowledge of biophysical limits to carbon accumulation may aid in informing priority regions. Consequently, there is great interest in assessing whether soils exhibit a maximum capacity for storing organic carbon, particularly within organo-mineral associations given the finite nature of reactive minerals in a soil. While the concept of soil carbon saturation has existed for over 25 years, recent studies have argued for and against its importance. Here, we summarize the conceptual understanding of soil carbon saturation at both micro- and macro-scales, define key terminology, and address common concerns and misconceptions. We review methods used to quantify soil carbon saturation, highlighting the theory and potential caveats of each approach. Critically, we explore the utility of the principles of soil carbon saturation for informing carbon accumulation, vulnerability to loss, and representations in process-based models. We highlight key knowledge gaps and propose next steps for furthering our mechanistic understanding of soil carbon saturation and its implications for soil management.

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  • Most agricultural soils-particularly those with a history of degradation-remain far below the SOC saturation threshold.

    “Although SOC saturation represents a theoretical upper limit, most agricultural soils—particularly those with a history of degradation—remain far below this threshold (Georgiou et al., 2022;Georgiou et al., 2025;Sanderman et al., 2017).”

    From Impact of 10 years of adaptive multi-paddock grazing on soil carbon and beef's greenhouse gas footprint in the US Upper Midwest (2026) · cites this paper as Georgiou et al., 2025

    In “Approaches for Quantifying Saturation” (page unavailable), the paper says cropland soils are often carbon-depleted and average about 30% MAOC saturation, supporting the claim that many agricultural soils are well below saturation. The Introduction reports carbon losses from land-use degradation, but does not establish that previously degraded agricultural soils are particularly far below saturation. The quantified threshold concerns mineral-associated carbon (MAOC), rather than total SOC. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Cited by

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Authors
Georgiou, K., Angers, D., Champiny, R. E., Cotrufo, M. F., Craig, M. E., Doetterl, S., Grandy, A. S., Lavallee, J. M., Lin, Y., Lugato, E., Poeplau, C., Rocci, K. S., Schweizer, S. A., Six, J., & Wieder, W. R.
Affiliations
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CA)
  • University of Florida (US)
  • Colorado State University (US)
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
  • Department of Environmental Systems Science ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland
  • University of New Hampshire (US)
  • Environmental Defense Fund (US)
  • European Commission (BE)
  • Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (DE)
  • Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (US)
  • Technical University of Munich (DE)
  • ETH Zurich (CH)
  • NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
Corresponding author
Georgiou, Katerina
ORCID
Venue
Global Change Biology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2025-05
Volume
31
Issue
5
Pages
e70197-e70197
ISSN
  • 1354-1013 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2486
DOI
10.1111/gcb.70197
PMC
PMC12062940
OpenAlex
W4410242429
Cited by
153
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 118 · 2025: 35
FWCI
11.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Global Change Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
  • OpenAgrar (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • ETH Zürich Research Collection
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Energy (SCW1632)
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (22‐ERD‐021, 24‐SI‐002)
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2020‐67019‐3139)
  • National Science Foundation (2409246)
  • Bayerisch-Kalifornischen Hochschulzentrum (8[2021‐2])
  • Arcadia Fund
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
Keywords
soil carbon saturation, soil organic carbon, carbon sequestration, organo-mineral associations, reactive minerals, soil carbon accumulation, soil management
MeSH terms
Carbon, Soil, Ecosystem, Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration

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