The App SOC + a tool to estimate or/and calculate soil organic carbon

The aims behind the creation of the SOC App (Soil Organic Carbon) are:

• a)      to decrease the miscalculations due to the unfortunate selection of the properties of the soil, the application of the wrong equation and the inappropriate units, in which the results are expressed
• b)      to offer the professionals who are not Soil Scientists and students  a tool to measure the SOC
• c)      to perform rapid field estimations.

App COS beta is a free download from the Play Store or Google Play (http://www.actswithscience.com/apps/). The SOC + App includes a simplified formula, in which the soil properties are shown in the common units in use.

I will use as example a Gleysol (see profile in Photograph). The soil profile is working by Hector Tello (INEGI soil division).

I'll show you how it works the App SOC:

·         Both in SOC BETA and in SOC +, click first on the App logo (new estimation) and insert the horizon key

·         Subsequently introduce the bulk density in g mL^-1; the horizon thickness in cm; the stone volume or thick fragments in percentage (0 to 100); and, finally, the soil organic carbon in fine earth (sieved through a 2 mm mesh) expressed in percentage.

·         Afterwards click in "calculate horizon" which will be calculated in SOC and expressed in Mg C ha^-1.

·         Later, introduce the horizon data. The total organic carbon in the soil profile appears at the bottom of the screen.

·         Once the total SOC calculations are completed, it is possible to transform the units if necessary

With SOC + is possible to estimate the content of the soil organic carbon by using the functions to estimate the bulk density; images to estimate stoniness or coarse fragments; and organic carbon with tables.

Besides, it is possible to obtain graphics from the carbon content throughout the profile and compare them with organic carbon content of some soil groups provided by the WRB.

 

Quick Calculation

     The SOC App carries out accurate calculation and it shows a rapid performance of all its functions. By comparison, an experienced technician needs 70 min. to calculate one profile of five horizons with Excel; however, with SOC+ App the calculations are quickly finished in only 7 min. Since the work time on the field is expensive, this difference in minutes is very valuable.  The App is designed with to behave as a field tool, with which calculations and estimations can be done quickly and reliably.

Table 1. Functions of the two versions of the App SOC

Characteristics	SOC BETA	SOC +
Simplifying the equation for calculating soil organic carbon	X	X
Unit conversion using the international system and the English system	X	X
Aid for estimating bulk density		X
Aid for estimating stoniness		X
Aid for estimating organic carbon		X
Graph organic carbon in the soil profile		X
Graph organic carbon in the soil profile compared to other soil groups according to the WRB		X