Role of Soil Erosion in Biogeochemical Cycling of Essential Elements: Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus

TLDR

Soil erosion on sloping landscapes redistributes topsoil, influencing the availability, stock, and persistence of essential elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and has emerged as a significant terrestrial sink for atmospheric CO₂. This review synthesizes evidence on erosion’s role in biogeochemical cycling, examines its effects on element availability for primary production, downstream exports, and greenhouse gas exchange, and explores how mass movement events influence Earth’s climate.

Abstract

Most of Earth's terrestrial surface is made up of sloping landscapes. The lateral distribution of topsoil by erosion controls the availability, stock, and persistence of essential elements in the terrestrial ecosystem. Over the last two decades, the role of soil erosion in biogeochemical cycling of essential elements has gained considerable interest from the climate, global change, and biogeochemistry communities after soil erosion and terrestrial sedimentation were found to induce a previously unaccounted terrestrial sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. More recent studies have highlighted the role of erosion in the persistence of organic matter in soil and in the biogeochemical cycling of elements beyond carbon . Here we synthesize available knowledge and data on how erosion serves as a major driver of biogeochemical cycling of essential elements. We address implications of erosion-driven changes in biogeochemical cycles on the availability of essential elements for primary production, on the magnitude of elemental exports downstream, and on the exchange of greenhouse gases from the terrestrial ecosystem to the atmosphere. Furthermore, we explore fates of eroded material and how terrestrial mass movement events play major roles in modifying Earth's climate.