Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)
Benchmark Value
Scoring Curve
This curve shows how a field measurement for this indicator would score across all available benchmark forms in this context.
Evidence & Context
The 50th percentile SOC concentration for Sandy loam soil texture is 2.67%.
Soil Organic Carbon concentration in the 0-10 cm soil depth
This benchmark represents the median soil organic carbon concentration in the top 10 cm of Sandy loam soil texture under production forestry in the Alpine and Subalpine Complex biome of Australia.
Benchmarks established from soil testing in South Australian agricultural zone.
Sources (1)
Soil Organic Carbon Benchmarks - Department for Environment and Water, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSupporting Sources (60)
Additional references from the underlying research that informed this benchmark.
- OPUS at UTS, accessed March 28, 2026,
View Sourcevegetation | Australian Alps National Parks
View Source(PDF) Empirical Estimates of Aboveground Carbon in Open Eucalyptus Forests of South-Eastern Australia and Its Potential Implication for National Carbon Accounting - ResearchGate, accessed March 28, 2026,
View Source13C isotopic signature and C concentration of soil density fractions illustrate reduced C allocation to subalpine grassland soil under high atmospheric N deposition - PMC, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceAUSTRALIA'S STATE OF THE FORESTS REPORT - DAFF, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceVictoria's State of the Forests Report 2013, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSustainable forest management: the Australian context - DAFF, accessed July 12, 2025,
View SourceAustralia's Sustainable Forest Management Framework of Criteria and Indicators 2008 - DAFF, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceBaseline map of organic carbon in Australian soil to support national carbon accounting and monitoring under climate change - PMC, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceIntegrated and comprehensive estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from land systems - ANU Open Research, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceCarbon Sequestration in the Australian Alps - Protect Our Winters Australia, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceCarbon, Corporate Forestry and Conservation: Struggles for Science in Sustainability and Benchmarks - Preprints.org, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceCaring for our Australian Alps Catchments
View SourceStability of stream biofilm community composition to transient shifts in dissolved organic carbon characteristics - EGUsphere, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceCase Study - Soil carbon benefits through reforestation, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceClimate concerns: Trends in Australian snow - CSIRO, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceCode of practice for small quarries - Resources Victoria, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceComparison of basin-scale in situ and meteoric 10Be erosion and denudation rates across a rainfall, slope, and elevation gradien, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceComparison of basin-scale in situ and meteoric 10Be erosion and denudation rates in felsic lithologies across an elevation gradient at the George River, northeast Tasmania, Australia - GChron, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceThe characteristics of regeneration failure and their potential to shift wet temperate forests into alternate stable states - ResearchGate, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceDrivers of soil organic carbon from temperate to alpine forests - BG, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceDynamics of carbon exchange in a Eucalyptus forest in response to interacting disturbance factors | Request PDF - ResearchGate, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceEvolution of Australia's soil-carbon map | TERN Australia, accessed March 28, 2026,
View Source2019–20 Wildfires - Forestry Corporation
View SourceForest Management Zoning in NSW State Forests - Forestry Corporation, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceEcological effects of repeated low-intensity fire - Forest Fire ..., accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSmith, A. (2019). Guidelines for Sustainable Forestry on Private Lands in NSW.
View SourceInsights for NSW forest outcomes and management - Natural ..., accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceMapping soil organic carbon fractions for Australia, their stocks and uncertainty - BG, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceAustralian soil carbon map sets a baseline for future gains - CSIRO, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourcePedogenic controls of soil organic carbon stocks and stability beneath montane Norway spruce forests along a precipitation gradient - PMC, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceNitrogen dynamics in alpine soils of south-eastern Australia - CSIRO Publishing, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceNeyland, M. G., & Cunningham, J. K. (2004). Silvicultural monitoring in uneven-aged highland dry Eucalyptus delegatensis forests in Tasmania. Australian Forestry, 67(1), 6-13.
View SourceCarbon and water fluxes over a temperate Eucalyptus forest and a tropical wet/dry savanna in Australia: Measurements and comparison with MODIS remote sensing estimates - ResearchGate, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourcePre-clearing Soil Carbon Levels in Australia - NCAS Technical Report No. 12 - DCCEEW, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceMapping soil organic carbon fractions for Australia, their stocks, and uncertainty - BG, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceCostin, A. B. 1954. A Study of the Ecosystems of the Monaro Region of New South Wales.
View SourceResearch Links Feral Horses to Peatland Carbon Emissions | Mirage News, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceRMIT study suggests link between feral horses and peatland carbon emissions, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceGovernment Gazette, accessed July 12, 2025
View SourceSoil fungal community composition drives forest-specific and seasonal dynamics of microbial carbon use efficiency in subalpine ecosystems - Oxford Academic, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceNew South Wales Vegetation classification and Assessment: Part 3 Plant communities of the NSW Brigalow Belt South, Nandewar an - Botanic Gardens of Sydney, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSoil and Landscape Grid National Soil Attribute Maps - Soil Organic Carbon Fractions (3" resolution) - Release 1 - CSIRO Data Access Portal, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSoil carbon [Chapter 2] - Forest Service, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceSoil carbon explained | Spring 2023 | Sheep Notes newsletter - Agriculture Victoria, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceSoil Carbon Pools in Adjacent Natural and Plantation Forests of Subtropical Australia | Request PDF - ResearchGate, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSoil CO2 Efflux and Root Productivity in a Switchgrass and Loblolly Pine Intercropping System - MDPI, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSoil Organic Carbon Guidelines by Rainfall - Department for Environment and Water, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSoil organic carbon stocks did not change after 130 years of afforestation on a former Swiss Alpine pasture, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceSoil Organic Carbon Thresholds and Nitrogen Management in Tropical Agroecosystems: Concepts and Prospects - ResearchGate, accessed August 28, 2025,
View SourceSoil structure and its benefits - Royal Society, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceA review of the potential impacts of different fire regimes on soil erosion and sedimentation, nutrient and carb, accessed May 15, 2025
View SourceTERN Landscapes - 2024 highlights, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceSouth-Eastern Australia - Frontiers
View SourceRefining benchmarks for soil organic carbon in Australia's temperate ...
View SourceThe potential impact of climate change on Australia's soil organic carbon resources - PMC, accessed August 5, 2025
View SourceQuantifying soil organic carbon stocks above the treeline in the Swiss Alps - EGUsphere, accessed March 28, 2026,
View Sourcetheaustralianalpsnationalparks.org
View SourceAustralia's State of the Forests Report 2018 – Criterion 4 - DAFF, accessed March 28, 2026,
View SourceWildfire effects on soils and soil processes - CSIRO Publishing, accessed March 28, 2026,
View Source