“…The belowground C pools of the mangrove forest transects were greater at 315, 428, and 818 Mg/ha for the seaward, interior, and landward zones, respectively [23]. In the study of Eid and Shaltout [59] soil organic carbon was higher in the surface soil where most carbon inputs occur and decreases with depth, this supported by some previous studies such as [60,61,62]. According to Girmay and Singh, [63] variation in SOC content distribution with depth are the result of interaction of complex processes such as decomposition, biological cycling, leaching, illuviation, soil erosion, weathering of minerals and atmospheric deposition.…”