About

The CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (Lal Carbon Center) is located on The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The mission of the Lal Carbon Center is to provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary research on terrestrial carbon management and sequestration techniques and technologies in the fields of agriculture, agroecology, bioenergy crops, nutrient cycling and waste management.

The goal of the Lal Carbon Center is to provide accurate assessments of soil and biological carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation in order to improve basic scientific understanding on carbon cycling in terrestrial systems as well as to provide policy makers with relevant information on carbon cycling. A full list of peer-reviewed publications, chapters, books, and oral and poster presentations by Lal Carbon Center researchers can be found here.

Research techniques include soil physical, chemical, and biological assessment; GIS mapping and prediction; soil quality indexing; lifecycle assessment; X-ray and mass spectroscopy methods; regional and global carbon assessments; etc. 

Update: The State-of-Science of Soil Carbon Sequestration

RationalE

Improve and sustain soil quality and its functions through increasing the soil C pool to meet the demands of growing and progressively affluent world population through climate resilient agriculture.

Scope
  • Science of C cycling in soils, vegetation, wetlands and biofuel plantations,
  • Effects of C sequestration, acceptability of different options, and the human dimensions including education, communication and  policy issues.
  • Ecosystem services affected by C in soils and biomass
Multi-disciplinary Components 

Soil science, climatology, environmental sciences, crop sciences, engineering, geology, economics, geography, social sciences, public policy, and communication.

Historic Evolution of the CFAES RAttan LAl Center for Carbon management and Sequestration

 

Year

Title

Funding Source

Personnel/ Institution

1988

Soil Carbon

US-EPA

Woods Hole

1992-2007

Soil and Climate Change

USDA-NRCS

Horrace Smith, John Kimble, Ron Follet

1997

USDA-NRCS/Kyoto Treaty

NRCS

Robert Rominger

2000

CAGMGS

USDA

Consortium

2000-2003

Mine Soil

DOE

OCDO

2000-2002

CCERI

OR

Brad Moore, Keith Alley (Lal, Thompson, Hatcher, Shum)

2000

Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC)

OIA/OARDC

B. Moser, S. Slack, G. Mullins, D. Hansen

2000-2010

Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC)

Sir Dorab Ji Tata Trust

Dick Celeste, Ratan Tata, M.S.Swaminathan

2001-2003

CIRIT

OIA

Jerry Ladman

2003-2006

Regional Partnership

USDOE

Battelle

2003-2006

Terrestrial C Sequestration

NETL

Battelle

2006-2010

Climate Water Carbon

TIE

B. Schneider, Robert McGrath, B. Moser, J. Bigham,

2010-2016

Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC)

CS-CAP

USDA-NIFA

2017

Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC)

OARDC

Drs. Sharp, Whitacre, McPheron, Erbaugh, Hoy, Bartter

2019 Carbon Management and Sequestration Center (C-MASC) OARDC, USDA Dr. G. Pierzynski
2020 CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (Lal Carbon Center) Sloan Foundation, HWH Foundation, Corteva Dr. G. Pierzynski
2021-2024 CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (Lal Carbon Center) CNH Industrial, FFAR, HWH Foundation, Kent State, NIFA, Ohio Corn and Wheat, Ohio Soybean Council, Sloan Foundation Dr. G. Pierzynski