TropSOC Database

We provide version 1.0 of an open access database created as part of the project “Tropical soil organic carbon dynamics along erosional disturbance gradients in relation to variability in soil geochemistry and land use” (TropSOC). TropSOC v1.0 contains spatial and temporal explicit data on soil, vegetation, environmental properties and land management collected from 136 pristine tropical forest and cropland plots between 2017 and 2020 as part of several monitoring and sampling campaigns in the Eastern Congo Basin and the East African Rift Valley System. The results of several laboratory experiments focussing on soil microbial activity, C cycling and C stabilization in soils complement the dataset to deliver one of the first landscape scale datasets to study the linkages and feedbacks between geology, geomorphology and pedogensis as controls on biogeochemical cycles in a variety of natural and managed systems in the African Tropics. Sampling procedures are described in each metadata description .pdf file accompanying a specific .csv file that represents a methodologically distinct subset of the database. A general overview of field sampling procedures and design is given in Doetterl et al., (2021, ESSD in review) which describes the dataset as a whole. Analytical procedures are described in each metadata description .pdf file accompanying a specific .csv file that represents a methodologically distinct subset of the database. Data processing and quality control are described in each metadata description .pdf file accompanying a specific .csv file that represents a methodologically distinct subset of the database.