Systems model of carbon transformations in soil subsidence

A system model was designed to simulate the interaction of climatologic and biologic factors in the biological oxidation of organic soils in ordert to stimulate research on this diminishing resource and attendant water quality problems in the Florida Everglades area. This is a mass balance model in which carbon and nitrogen are conserved in the transformations. It was designed to test different management alternatives for slowing the rate of soil subsidence and to estimate their potential effect on water quality by simulating subsidence rates and the release rates of nitrates, nitrites, and organic acids to ground and surface waters.The biological submodel is structured about two major compartments — the total non-living carbon compartment and a living carbon compartment that includes the microbial biomass and functioning extracellular enzymes.Simulations of the model show the effects of temperature, organic composition, and water table height on carbon dioxide evolution from the soil.