Global Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen Profiles from Field Surveys (1986)

Worldwide Organic Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Data (1986) is a collection of soil sample analyses compiled by Paul J. Zinke of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The dataset includes soil profile carbon and nitrogen content, bulk density, and site location data from California, Italy, Greece, Iran, Thailand, Vietnam, Amazonian areas, and U.S. forests. It was designed to estimate the size of soil organic carbon and nitrogen pools at equilibrium with natural soil-forming factors.

Use Cases

• Modeling global soil carbon pools based on soil profile carbon content data.
• Analyzing the relationship between soil nitrogen content and ecosystem types.
• Mapping soil organic matter distribution based on latitude and longitude coordinates.
• Studying the correlation between site elevation and soil carbon storage.

Strengths

• Includes data from diverse global regions, including California, Italy, Greece, Iran, Thailand, Vietnam, Amazonian areas, and U.S. forests.
• Contains multiple measured variables per sample, such as carbon content, nitrogen content, bulk density, latitude, longitude, and elevation.
• Samples were collected at uniform soil-depth increments, suggesting methodological consistency.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Paul J. Zinke, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, via CDIAC (Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center).

Collection Method

Collection and analysis of soil samples from field surveys and the soil-survey literature.

Time Range

1986 (publication year).

Freshness

Data collection appears centered on 1986; recency is not specified.

Geography

Global, with samples from California, Italy, Greece, Iran, Thailand, Vietnam, Amazonian areas, and U.S. forests.