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Spatial complexity of soil organic matter forms at nanometre scales

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 238–242 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Organic matter in soil has been suggested to be composed of a complex mixture of identifiable biopolymers1 rather than a chemically complex humic material2. Despite the importance of the spatial arrangement of organic matter forms in soil3, its characterization has been hampered by the lack of a method for analysis at fine scales. X-ray spectromicroscopy has enabled the identification of spatial variability of organic matter forms, but was limited to extracted soil particles4 and individual micropores within aggregates5,6. Here, we use synchrotron-based near-edge X-ray spectromicroscopy7 of thin sections of entire and intact free microaggregates6 to demonstrate that on spatial scales below 50 nm resolution, highly variable yet identifiable organic matter forms, such as plant or microbial biopolymers, can be found in soils at distinct locations of the mineral assemblage. Organic carbon forms detected at this spatial scale had no similarity to organic carbon forms of total soil. In contrast, we find that organic carbon forms of total soil were remarkably similar between soils from several temperate and tropical forests with very distinct vegetation composition and soil mineralogy. Spatial information on soil organic matter forms at the scale provided here could help to identify processes of organic matter cycling in soil, such as carbon stability or sequestration and responses to a changing climate.

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Figure 1: Molecular characterization of total soil carbon by C-1s NEXAFS spectroscopy using transmission spectroscopy of soil extracts obtained from different forest sites.
Figure 2: Distribution of carbon contents and molecular forms in a soil microassemblage from Nandi Forest (Kenya) determined by NEXAFS in combination with STXM.
Figure 3: Characterization of organic carbon forms at different regions within a soil microassemblage from Nandi Forest (Kenya) determined by NEXAFS in combination with STXM.
Figure 4: Identification of regions with spectral properties of total organic carbon within a soil microassemblage from Nandi Forest (Kenya) determined by NEXAFS in combination with STXM.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported in part by NSF-CHNS and NSF-DEB. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. The Beamline X-1A1 at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) was developed by the research group of J. Kirz and C. Jacobsen at SUNY, Stony Brook, with support from DoE and NSF-DBI and -ECS. The Canadian Light Source (CSL) is supported by NSERC, NRC, CIHR and the University of Saskatchewan. Thanks to K. Hanley, K. Heyman, T. Fahey, B. Turner, J. Yavitt, Y. Zhang, R. Blyth and T. Regier for help in preparing, providing or measuring the samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

    Johannes Lehmann, Dawit Solomon, James Kinyangi & Lena Dathe

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA

    Sue Wirick & Chris Jacobsen

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  1. Johannes Lehmann
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  2. Dawit Solomon
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  3. James Kinyangi
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  4. Lena Dathe
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  5. Sue Wirick
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  6. Chris Jacobsen
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Contributions

J.L. planned the study, conducted the X-ray measurements, analysed the data and developed the paper. D.S., J.K. and L.D. prepared the samples and provided input to the manuscript. S.W. and C.J. aided in X-ray and data analyses and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Johannes Lehmann.

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Lehmann, J., Solomon, D., Kinyangi, J. et al. Spatial complexity of soil organic matter forms at nanometre scales. Nature Geosci 1, 238–242 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo155

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