Theory 32/Decades/Soil carbon
Soil Carbon Follows Residence Time
The claim
The response of soil carbon to a change in inputs is set by the ratio of observation window to carbon residence time, so a decade of measurement cannot detect a change in a slow pool.
01Mechanism
Carbon stocks respond with a lag equal to residence time; short windows see only the fast pools.
02Prediction
Detected change should track the ratio.
03Refutation
Detection tracking input change alone would remove residence time.