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Letter

Nature Geoscience 1, 238–242 (1 April 2008) | doi:10.1038/ngeo155

Spatial complexity of soil organic matter forms at nanometre scales

Johannes Lehmann , Dawit Solomon , James Kinyangi , Lena Dathe , Sue Wirick & Chris Jacobsen

Organic matter in soil has been suggested to be composed of a complex mixture of identifiable biopolymers rather than a chemically complex humic material. Despite the importance of the spatial arrangement of organic matter forms in soil, its characterization has been hampered by the lack of a method for analysis at fine scales.