Increased interactions between iron oxides and organic carbon under acid deposition drive large increases in soil organic carbon in a tropical forest in southern China

Atmospheric acid deposition remains a widespread problem that may influence the protection of carbon (C) in soil by altering organo-mineral interactions. However, the impacts of additional acidity on organo-mineral interactions and soil C sequestration in naturally acidic tropical soils with a high content of reactive iron (Fe) phases have not been well studied. Here we conducted a long-term (9.5-year) field experiment with a gradient of acidity treatments (3, 9.6, 32, 96 mol H + ha −1 year −1 as nitric + sulfuric acid, added to ambient deposition) to examine how acidification alters organo-mineral interactions and soil organic carbon (SOC) pools in a tropical forest of China where soils are already highly acidic (pH ≈ 4). As expected, soil acidification significantly enhanced the leaching of base cations (e.g., Ca 2+ ), and it also altered the solubility and composition of Fe and Al phases. The acidity treatments decreased total Fe and converted more crystalline Fe (oxyhydr) oxides to short-range-ordered phases, evidenced by an increase in Fe extracted by citrate-ascorbate solution and 0.5 M hydrochloric acid, and a decrease in the difference in Fe extracted by citrate-dithionite and citrate-ascorbate. Together, these changes led to a large increase in Fe-bound C versus a relatively small decrease in Ca-bound C. Overall, the acidity treatments increased the mineral-associated C stock to 32.5–36.4 Mg C ha −1 versus 28.8 Mg C ha −1 in the control, accounting for 71–83% of the observed increase in total SOC stock. These findings highlight the importance of pH-sensitive geochemical changes and the key roles of Fe in regulating the response of SOC to further inputs of acid deposition even in highly weathered and naturally acidic soils. The magnitude of SOC changes observed here further reveals the necessity of including pH-sensitive geochemistry in Earth system models to better predict ecosystem C budgets under future acid deposition scenarios.