The accumulation and transformation of organic matter during soil development is rarely investigated although such processes are relevant when discussing about carbon sequestration in soil. Here, we investigated soils under grassland and forest close to the North Sea that began its genesis under terrestrial conditions 30 years ago after dikes were closed. Organic C contents of up to 99 mg g−1 soil were found until 6 cm soil depth. The humus consisted mainly of the fraction lighter than 1.6 g cm−3 which refers to poorly degraded organic carbon. High microbial respiratory activity was determined with values between 1.57 and 1.17 μg CO2–C g−1 soil h−1 at 22 °C and 40 to 70% water-holding capacity for the grassland and forest topsoils, respectively. The microbial C to organic C ratio showed values up to 20 mg Cmic g−1 Corg. Although up to 2.69 kg C m−2 were estimated to be sequestered during 30 years, the microbial indicators showed intensive colonisation and high transformation rates under both forest and grassland which were higher than those determined in agricultural and forest topsoils in Northern Germany.