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Dead trees and other plants in a mature forest are decomposed and in that process, carbon is released back into the atmosphere.
by RivieraKid 1y ago
Dead trees and other plants in a mature forest are decomposed and in that process, carbon is released back into the atmosphere.
- lithocarpus 1y agoHis point is charcoal doesn't decompose which is why we find soil with 5000 year old charcoal in it. It's basically permanently sequestered.
- RivieraKid 1y agoIs it something that commonly happens in forests? I think mature forests today are approximately carbon neutral.
- lithocarpus 1y agoIt does sometimes in forests that burn. And generally, forests keep building up soil, it's disturbances and things like erosion (sometimes worsened by fires) that counter this buildup. But mature forests tend to do a lot better at resisting erosion and catastrophic (erosion-causing) fires.
- RivieraKid 1y agoForests do not infinitely accumulate soil. When we dig into the ground in a mature forest, the layer with organic remnants is not particularly thick. Dead organic decomposes and returns back above the ground.