Landslide impact on organic carbon cycling in a temperate montane forest.

In humid, forested mountain belts, bedrock landslides can harvest organic carbon from above ground biomass and soil (OCmodern) while acting to refresh the landscape surface and turnover forest ecosystems. Here the impact of landslides on organic carbon cycling in 13 river catchments spanning the length of the western Southern Alps, New Zealand is assessed over four decades. Spatial and temporal landslide maps are combined with the observed distribution and measured variability of hillslope OCmodern stocks. On average, it is estimated that landslides mobilized 7.6 ± 2.9 tC km−2 yr−1 of OCmodern, ~30% of which was delivered to river channels. Comparison with published estimates of OCmodern export in river suspended load suggests additional erosion of OCmodern by small, shallow landslides or overland flow in catchments. The exported OCmodern may contribute to geological carbon sequestration if buried in sedimentary deposits. Landslides may have also contributed to carbon sequestration over shorter timescales (