think climate. think change.
Department of Climate Change
Adrian Webb (Editor), March 2002
Documents are available for downloading as PDF files. (PDF help)
If you are unable to access this document please contact us to organise a suitable alternative format.
A map of soil carbon in the top 30 cm of soil across Australia has been produced in collaboration with the State and Territory Governments and CSIRO using existing soil carbon and associated data. An important input to modelling the soil carbon flux is the level of soil carbon prior to land use change, that is soil carbon in pre-cleared conditions. Estimated change due to the land use change are then modelled using climate, land management, land use and crop yield inputs. This soil carbon map is an input to the estimation of soil carbon change in Australia including the 1990 Baseline for the Land Use Change and Forestry components for the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory.
The map shows the broad variability of soil carbon, some of which is clearly related to climate/landscape characteristics. Estimates range from < 10 to > 250 tonne (t) per hectare (ha) to 30 cm depth. This project has highlighted the value of soil site databases nationally, but also emphasised the deficiencies in them. A major requirement into the future for the National Carbon Accounting System will be to improve the quality of the site data and the ability to predict pre-disturbance soil carbon levels and the subsequent impacts of land use practices.
