Factors Influencing the Rates, Processes and Magnitude of Accumulation of Carbon in Desert Soils

In 1991, the Soil Landscape Climate Program (SLCP) was organized as part of the Solid Earth Sciences Program at NASA. Part of the research to be conducted in the SLCP included studies of the systematics of carbon storage and flux in the terrestrial environment, specifically terrestrial soils. This report summarizes the results of the research funded through the SLCP that supported our efforts focussed on the nature of carbon behavior in arid environments, where the majority of the carbon is present as inorganic carbon stored as pedogenic carbonate in desert calcic soils