Understanding the dynamics of soil carbon is crucial for assessing the soil carbon storage and predicting the potential of mitigating carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the biomass and soil. The present study evaluated variations of soil carbon stock in semi-arid forests in India under different moisture regimes. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) stocks were determined in different moisture regimes i.e. monsoon, post-monsoon, winter and pre-monsoon seasons at 0–10 and > 10–20 cm depths. SOC stock showed significant variations under different moisture regimes. The highest SOC stock was during winter (22.81 Mg C ha⁻¹) and lowest during the monsoon season (2.34 Mg C ha⁻¹) among all the ridge forests under study. SOC and SIC stock under different moisture regimes showed significant negative correlation with soil moisture (p < 0.05), as a sudden increase in soil moisture after rainfall results in an increase in carbon loss due to microbial decomposition of accumulated carbon during the dry period. There was an increase in annual SOC stock and a decrease (or no change in some cases), in SIC stock at both the depths during the study period. The SOC and SIC sequestration rates were estimated as any increase/decrease in the respective stock during each successive year. SOC sequestered ranged between 0.046 and 0.741 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹. Similarly, SIC sequestration ranged between 0.013 and 0.023 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ over all ridge forests up to 20 cm depth. The Delhi ridge forests, which accounts to 0.007% of the semi-arid regions of India, contribute 0.25–0.32% of the national potential (semi-arid region) for SOC sequestration up to 20 cm depth. The estimates of the rate of C sequestration in this study provide a realistic image of carbon dynamics under present climatic conditions of semi-arid forests, and could be used in developing a database and formulating new strategies for carbon dioxide mitigation by enhancing soil C sequestration rates.

了解土壤碳的动力学特性对于评估土壤碳储量和预测从大气到生物质和土壤的二氧化碳减排潜力至关重要。本研究评估了印度不同干旱条件下半干旱森林土壤碳储量的变化。在不同的水分条件下，即季风，季风后，冬季和季风前季节，在0–10厘米和10–20厘米深处确定了土壤有机碳（SOC）和土壤无机碳（SIC）储量。在不同的水分制度下，SOC储量显示出显着变化。SOC最高的是冬季（22.81 Mg C ha ^-1），最低的是季风季节的（2.34 Mg C ha ^-1）。）在所有正在研究的山脊林中。在不同水分状况下，SOC和SIC存量与土壤水分呈显着负相关（p  <0.05），因为降雨后土壤水分的突然增加导致干旱期间积聚的微生物分解而导致的碳损失增加。在研究期间，两个深度的SIC年度SOC存量都有所增加，而有所减少（或在某些情况下没有变化）。SOC和SIC的封存率估计为连续两年中相应库存的任何增加/减少。隔离的SOC在0.046和0.741Mg C ha ^-1  y ^-1之间。同样，SIC的螯合范围为0.013至0.023 Mg C ha ^-1  y在所有不超过20厘米深的山脊森林中为^-1。德里山脊森林占印度半干旱地区的0.007％，在20厘米以下的SOC封存中贡献了国家潜力（半干旱地区）的0.25-0.32％。这项研究中的固碳速率估算值提供了在当前半干旱森林气候条件下碳动态的逼真的图像，可用于开发数据库并通过提高土壤固碳速率制定缓解二氧化碳的新策略。 。