Impact of hydrologically driven hillslope erosion and landslide occurrence on soil organic carbon dynamics in tropical watersheds

The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) in tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle. Past attempts to quantify the net C exchange with the atmosphere in regional and global budgets do not systematically account for dynamic feedbacks among linked hydrological, geomorphological, and biogeochemical processes, which control the fate of SOC. Here we quantify effects of geomorphic perturbations on SOC oxidation and accumulation in two adjacent wet tropical forest watersheds underlain by contrasting lithology (volcaniclastic rock and quartz diorite) in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory. This study uses the spatially-explicit and physically-based model of SOC dy…