Soil organic carbon storage changes in coastal wetlands of the modern Yellow River Delta from 2000 to 2009

Soil carbon sequestration plays an essential role in mitigating CO2 increases and the subsequently global greenhouse effect. The storages and dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) of 0–30 cm soil depth in different landscape types including beaches, reservoir and pond, reed wetland, forest wetland, bush wetland, farmland, building land, bare land (severe saline land) and salt field in the modern Yellow River Delta (YRD), were studied based on the data of the regional survey and laboratory analysis. The landscape types were classified by the interpretation of remote sensing images of 2000 and 2009, which was calibrated by field survey results. The results revealed an increase of 10.59 km2 in the modem YRD area from 2000 to 2009. The SOC density varied ranging from 0.73 kg m−2 to 21.60 kg m−2 at depth of 30 cm. There were ~3.97 × 106 t and 3.98 × 106 t SOC stored in the YRD in 2000 and 2009, respectively. The SOC storages changed greatly in beaches, bush wetland, farm land and salt field which were affected dominantly by anthropogenic activities. The area of the YRD increased greatly within 10 yr, however, the small increase of SOC storage in the region was observed due to landscape changes, indicating that the modern YRD was a potential carbon sink and anthropogenic activity was a key factor for SOC change.