Younger carbon dominates global soil carbon efflux

Abstract Soil carbon (C) is comprised of a continuum of organic compounds with distinct ages (i.e., the time a C atom has experienced in soil since the C atom entered soil). The contribution of different age groups to soil C efflux is critical for understanding soil C stability and persistence, but is poorly understood due to the complexity of soil C pool age structure and potential distinct turnover behaviors of age groups. Here, we build upon the quantification of soil C transit times to infer the age of C atoms in soil C efflux (aefflux) from seven sequential soil layer depths down to 2 m at a global scale, and compare this age with radiocarbon‐inferred ages of C retained in corresponding soil layers (asoil). In the whole 0–2 m soil profile, the mean aefflux is (mean with 5%–95% quantiles) year and is just about one‐eighth of asoil ( year), demonstrating that younger C dominates soil C efflux. With increasing soil depth, both aefflux and asoil are increased, but their disparities are markedly narrowed. That is, the proportional contribution of relatively younger soil C to efflux is decreased in deeper layers, demonstrating that C inputs (new and young) stay longer in deeper layers. Across the globe, we find large spatial variability of the contribution of soil C age groups to C efflux. Especially, in deep soil layers of cold regions (e.g., boreal forests and tundra), aefflux may be older than asoil, suggesting that older C dominates C efflux only under a limited range of conditions. These results imply that most C inputs may not contribute to long‐term soil C storage, particularly in upper layers that hold the majority of new C inputs.