Soil organic carbon dynamics in cleared temperate forest spodosols converted to maize cropping

In southwest France, sandy spodosols have developed from Quaternary sandy eolian deposits. On these soils, numerous forest lands have been converted to continuous intensive maize cropping. A chronosequence study is realized by comparing organic C pools and C-13 natural abundance of one forested and 6 agricultural sites, whose ages of cultivation range from 4 to 32 yr. delta(13)C ratio is found to increase with time of cultivation. After 3 decades of intensive maize cropping, about half of the initial organic C content in the forest topsoil layer has disappeared. The fraction of C derived from maize crop increases during the first decades of cultivation, but its level is significantly lower than those observed in other soils, which indicates a high mineralization rate of organic C. In this context, soil characteristics associated to intensive agricultural practices lead to a rapid and large loss of C, whereas inputs from maize seem to have only a very small long-term contribution.