The Carbon Sequestration in the Soils and Trees of Gorazbone Forest, Mazandaran, Iran

The purpose of this study was to qualify the carbon sequestration in relation with soil physicochemical characteristic and tree species composition in Kheiroodkenar educational forest of the Tehran University. The area of the study location was about 1100 hectare. To achieve the purpose, 32 soil profiles were excavated and soils were collected from 3 layers, including 0~30, 30~60, and 60~100cm. Different soil characteristics including, texture, pH, bulk desity and organic carbon percentage were measured. The sequestrated carbon was estimated by multiplying the bulk density by the percentage of organic C for a predetermined sampling depth. The results showed that most common soil
orders in the studied area were luvisol and cabmisol fitted with alfisols, inceptisols in USDA soil taxonomy. The total soil organic carbon was around 1307 ton per hectare from 0 up to 100 cm. In addition the results indicated that carbon stores of the top soil layers (0~30cm) was 686, second layer (30~60) was 310, and in the last layer (60~100cm) was 302 ton per hectare. Using C14 for age determination, the soil age was determined 6839±440 years.