Assessing Organo-metal and Organo-Mineral controls on Soil Organic Matter stabilization in B horizons using a diverse set of A horizons
EMSL Project ID
51026
Abstract
Soil organic matter (SOM) is transformed by microbial processes and transported through soils by water. SOM leached from A horizons and can be stabilized through mineral-organic and metal-organic complexation in the B horizons. Other research has been done to investigate the role of microbial mediated SOM stabilization, I am not aware of a study that examines the role of the A horizon leachate composition and the physicochemical structure of the B horizon across a diverse range of soil types. I will use a diverse set of soils with a range of vegetation, temperature, precipitation, age, and mineral composition to extract the SOM from the A horizon and react it with artificial B horizons. Leached A horizon solution from 12 National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be applied to the artificial B horizon treatments. The artificial B horizons will be constructed to understand how the concentration of clay, composition of clay, metal speciation and pH determine the dominant mechanism of SOM stabilization. The A horizon leachate will be added to 3 artificial B horizon gradients, where only one variable is changing at a time. The molecular composition of the A horizon leachate and the post artificial B horizon solution composition will be determined using fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR-MS). Understanding the mechanism of stabilization of SOM for these gradients will allow for interpolation from point source data to continental scale and inform global models.
Project Details
Start Date
2019-09-23
End Date
2021-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members