Nature Communications (Jan 2021)

A new hypothesis for the origin of Amazonian Dark Earths

  • Lucas C. R. Silva,
  • Rodrigo Studart Corrêa,
  • Jamie L. Wright,
  • Barbara Bomfim,
  • Lauren Hendricks,
  • Daniel G. Gavin,
  • Aleksander Westphal Muniz,
  • Gilvan Coimbra Martins,
  • Antônio Carlos Vargas Motta,
  • Julierme Zimmer Barbosa,
  • Vander de Freitas Melo,
  • Scott D. Young,
  • Martin R. Broadley,
  • Roberto Ventura Santos

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20184-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Amazonian Dark Earth is soil that has had mysteriously high fertility since ancient times, despite the fact that surrounding soils have very low nutrients. Here the authors’ use of isotope reconstructions indicate that these soils predate human settlement and could have alluvial and burning origins.