Carbon Status of the Soils of Iowa State University.

Given Iowa State's founding as a “land grant” institution, the university has recently decided to evaluate its land in a broader environmental context. Iowa State owns or manages 77 properties across the state which collectively total 6,392 hectares. Our project quantifies the carbon stocks of these 77 properties as well as assesses the “green” value of various land use practices. Three pools of carbon were assessed: organic, inorganic, and total. Depths of interest were 0.18 and 1.0 meter, and were selected because of their compatibility with ISPAID and USDA-NRCS Web Soil Survey. The following results are for 15 of the major properties, which were selected based on their size and soilscape diversity. Average SOC stocks are 16.8 kg m^-2 m^-1 and 5.1 kg m^-2 m^-0.18, respectively, with maximum and minimum SOC stocks ranging from 30.6 m^-2 m^-1 to 8.0 m^-2 m^-1, and 7.2 to 2.9 m^-2 m^-.18. Trends include largest stocks in Aquolls and smallest stocks in Alfisols and eroded Mollisols, as well as a fairly consistent depth distribution – e.g., the top 0.18 m contains 30% of the SOC present to a 1.0 meter depth. Additionally, the “green” value and management practices of these properties are being assessed using the USDA’s COMET-Farm tool in order to evaluate and predict carbon flux.