Datasets:China’s cropland soil carbon accrual shifts from climatic–edaphic constraints to management control after one decade

Here we synthesize chronosequence data from 194 publications, covering 1,324 observations from 173 sites across China’s croplands, to assess how climate, soil properties and management regulate topsoil carbon change over four decades.

We identify a decadal transition in soil carbon accrual. During the first decade, carbon responses are rapid but strongly constrained by climate and initial soil conditions, with divergent trajectories among climatic regions. After one decade, accrual slows and management becomes the dominant control, while climate acts mainly through its interactions with soil properties.