"International Journal of Geography, Geology and Environment"

Author(s): Ghulam Murtaza and Rose Mary

Abstract: Biochar is a type of black carbon produced from a carbonaceous material through the application of heat or chemicals (Lehmann, 2007b; Novak et al., 2009) ^{[22, 31]}. Black carbon in soils can be a result of anthropogenic activities like fire pits or natural occurrences like volcanic activity or forest fires (Spokas et al., 2012) ^[41]. Biochar is differentiated from black carbon in that it is created with the intent to be used as a soil ameliorant (Barrow, 2012) ^[5]. Specifically, biochar is a stable substrate created from organic material that has been combusted under low or no oxygen conditions through the process of pyrolysis (Atkinson et al., 2010; Karhu et al., 2011) ^{[3, 18]}. Biochar may increase soil pH, nutrient retention, cation exchange capacity (CEC), crop biomass, and many other variables important to soil quality and agriculture (Schnell et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2012) ^{[18, 48]} in addition to increased soil C sequestration (Lehmann, 2007a) ^[22].

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