Soil Carbon in Sandy Soils across the World.

Sandy soils are widely cultivated across the globe. We extracted 1,317 pedons from five major soils databases (ISRIC, USA, Africa, Canada, and Australia). The physical and chemical properties of the A-horizon were summarized by soil order, climatic region, and land cover. On average, Spodosols had the highest SOC concentrations in the A-horizon, and SOC was lowest in Aridisols. Soil organic carbon was highest in sandy soils of the temperate and cold regions, and SOC was lowest in sandy soils of the dry and tropical regions. In sandy soils under land cover, SOC was highest under forest and lowest under prairie.