New paper links soil erosion to CO2 and CH4 emissions from rivers

Soil erosion is a major problem in many agricultural-intensive areas of the world. In a new paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology mesocosm experiments simulating varying erosion intensity of organic-rich soils in northeastern China are presented. The results show that the erosion-driven export and degradation of terrestrial organic matter promotes CO₂ and CH₄ emission from receiving rivers. The first author Chunlan Li working with Prof. Kunfu Pi at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan (CUG). Co-authors include Philippe Van Cappellen and other researchers at CUG.

Link to paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c02082