Abstract
Recent studies of Spodosols developed in tropical regions, especially in the Amazon basin, have showed the large capacity of these soils to store carbon in deep Spodic horizons, which occur between 2.5 and 3 m depth. Because of the storage capacity of these horizons, the amount of carbon in Amazon soils is probably higher than we know nowadays, around 13.6 PgC, 12.3 PgC above what had been estimated. All carbon stocks currently stored in Sposodols have originated from ancient vegetation formations. Spodosols areas are associated with Sclerophillous vegetation, so called Campinaranas. This vegetation has less carbon storage capacity than Rain Forests, however, it's important to take into account the soil organic matter, which would increase the actual estimations, because part of the vegetation biomass associated with ancient formations could nowadays be stored as organic matter in Spodosols. Moreover, carbon stocks in Amazon region may be higher than current estimations. Therefore this project aims to map carbon stocks in the Rio Negro basin, considering not just that stored in above ground biomass, but also that one associated with deep Spodic horizons, using remote sensing and GIS techniques. To achieve these goals, we will use sample data collected in field, information derived from maps and remote sensing data, as well as information already obtained in previous studies. The results obtained in field scale studies will allow extrapolation to regional (1:100,000) and global (1:1,000,000, involving the whole Rio Negro Basin located in Brazil) scales. Given this methodology it will be possible to perform the mapping of novel carbon stocks in this region.
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