Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Destabilizes Mineral-associated Organic Matter

Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Destabilizes Mineral-associated Organic Matter | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Destabilizes Mineral-associated Organic Matter Saqilafu Bao, Gang Dai This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7625305/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Environmental Chemistry Letters → Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) constitutes a major fraction of soil organic carbon and plays a critical role in long-term carbon sequestration. While factors like phosphate are known to destabilize MAOM, the role of dissolved inorganic carbon dominated by carbonate and bicarbonate remains underexplored. This study investigates the impact of dissolved inorganic carbon on MAOM stability, hypothesizing that dissolved inorganic carbon promotes desorption and inhibits the accumulation MAOM. In batch experiments, elevated inorganic carbon concentrations (≥0.018 mol/L) significantly desorbed organic matter from mineral surfaces, releasing 10.6% of total MAOM-C—comparable to, though less than, phosphate-induced release (12.8%). FT-ICR-MS and XPS analyses revealed the compositional differences of the organic matter released in inorganic carbon solution compared to that in phosphate solution. In a soil incubation experiment with ¹³C-labeled glucose, increasing dissolved inorganic carbon levels progressively reduced the incorporation of new carbon into MAOM, demonstrating that dissolved inorganic carbon inhibits MAOM accumulation. Meanwhile, at high dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations, glucose addition also reduced total MAOM-C, suggesting an enhanced priming effect. Our results show that dissolved inorganic carbon destabilizes MAOM through competitive adsorption, weakening organo-mineral associations and increasing the lability of soil organic carbon. Given the spatial and temporal variability of dissolved inorganic carbon, these findings highlight the need to integrate inorganic carbon dynamics into soil carbon models and management strategies. Mineral-associated organic matter Dissolved inorganic carbon Desorption Organomineral interaction Soil incubation Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Environmental Chemistry Letters → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 14 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 12 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 16 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 15 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7625305","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":528477293,"identity":"a8617e83-337a-4554-95e8-a81da00319db","order_by":0,"name":"Saqilafu Bao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Inner Mongolia Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Saqilafu","middleName":"","lastName":"Bao","suffix":""},{"id":528477294,"identity":"547017bb-269b-4b71-a2f6-559cbf3c602c","order_by":1,"name":"Gang 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While factors like phosphate are known to destabilize MAOM, the role of dissolved inorganic carbon dominated by carbonate and bicarbonate remains underexplored. This study investigates the impact of dissolved inorganic carbon on MAOM stability, hypothesizing that dissolved inorganic carbon promotes desorption and inhibits the accumulation MAOM. In batch experiments, elevated inorganic carbon concentrations (≥0.018 mol/L) significantly desorbed organic matter from mineral surfaces, releasing 10.6% of total MAOM-C—comparable to, though less than, phosphate-induced release (12.8%). FT-ICR-MS and XPS analyses revealed the compositional differences of the organic matter released in inorganic carbon solution compared to that in phosphate solution. In a soil incubation experiment with ¹³C-labeled glucose, increasing dissolved inorganic carbon levels progressively reduced the incorporation of new carbon into MAOM, demonstrating that dissolved inorganic carbon inhibits MAOM accumulation. Meanwhile, at high dissolved inorganic carbon concentrations, glucose addition also reduced total MAOM-C, suggesting an enhanced priming effect. Our results show that dissolved inorganic carbon destabilizes MAOM through competitive adsorption, weakening organo-mineral associations and increasing the lability of soil organic carbon. 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