S3C Database: Soil Organic Carbon for 9,215 Pedons in the Mississippi River Basin
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Description
The Mississippi River Basin is covered by a pedon-based database of soil-organic-carbon for mineral soils. It contains data for 9,215 pedons sampled between 1928 and 1995, representing 2,719 soil series. The database was developed by the USGS for terrestrial-carbon cycling studies and includes horizon-level and pedon-level measurements.
Use Cases
Modeling soil carbon storage and transport based on calculated SOC mass storage values for standard depth intervals.
Analyzing environmental controls on soil organic carbon distribution across a large river basin.
Studying site-specific carbon-cycling processes using the provided horizon-level data for attributes like bulk density and particle size.
Conducting regional analysis and modeling using the aggregated pedon-level data.
Strengths
Contains data from 9,215 individual soil pedons.
Represents 2,719 distinct soil series catalogued by the USDA.
Includes both detailed horizon-level and aggregated pedon-level data for multiple standard depth intervals.
Compiled from multiple authoritative sources, including the USDA National Soil Characterization Database.
Limitations
Data collection ended in 1995, which may limit contemporary analysis.
Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, requiring manual inspection after download.
Geographic coverage is focused on the Mississippi River Basin, which may not be representative of other regions.
Provenance
Source
Compiled from USDA NRCS, University of Arkansas, University of Illinois, and other survey data.
Collection Method
Pedons were described and sampled by various agencies; data were compiled for USGS carbon cycle studies.
Time Range
1928 to 1995
Freshness
Last update date is unknown; data collection period is 1928-1995.