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TerraForms

Soil and sediment biogeochemical processes at the microscale, such as porosity and pore connectivity, collectively influence the behavior of critical minerals, nutrients, and overall ecosystem properties. However, studying soil in its natural state is challenging because of its chemical and physical complexity and opacity. 

Scientists at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) developed a micromodel platform known as TerraForms to provide users with an avenue for investigating hydrobiogeochemical processes in soils and sediments. Through TerraForms, researchers use custom-designed synthetic environments, microfluidics technologies, and in-house instrumentation to simulate soil properties to visualize soil microbial and plant community dynamics and nutrient and critical mineral cycling in soils and to investigate microbial potential for biomining critical minerals to close the energy gap in the United States. 

These platforms enable soil structure sample replication, optical imaging, chemical analysis, and statistical imaging processing and analysis. The capabilities can be paired with EMSL’s chemical imaging and mass spectrometry instrumentation and multi-omics technologies and are good examples of how EMSL is innovating to grow U.S. scientific leadership. All are available to researchers through the EMSL User Program. 

TerraForms includes the following: 

Research application 

Supporting the Biogeochemical Transformations Integrated Research Platforms, these resources help unlock how nutrients and economically valuable metals move and change in the subsurface and how critical minerals weather under different flow regimes. This essential knowledge can help us improve predictive models to anticipate and manage effects on both human and natural systems. EMSL is equipped with a clean room, which includes a suite of microfluidic and 3-D technologies, allowing scientists to create TerraForms to understand and to study microbe–mineral interactions to enhance the biomining of critical minerals. 

Supporting the Rhizosphere Function Integrated Research Platform, TerraForms advances basic science by enabling researchers to study microbial and plant root associated processes in the rhizosphere. 

Supporting the Terrestrial-Atmospheric Processes Integrated Research Platform, TerraForms allows scientists to identify belowground and aboveground volatile organic compounds for your science. 

Available resources 

Tips for success 

When submitting a proposal to one of EMSL’s open calls for proposals, indicate that you would like to use TerraForms for your project. All TerraForms platforms can be amended with the soil mineralogy of your choice! 

Contacts