Scientific committee

Numerous analytical approaches are available to quantify soil carbon and to characterise soil organic matter. 

Soil organic matter is the largest terrestrial organic carbon pool and plays a major role for physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils. Soil organic carbon content is controlled by the balance between inputs and losses, and by stabilisation processes involving interactions with the mineral soil matrix. This session will focus on soil organic matter transformation and stabilisation mechanisms that lead to organic carbon sequestration in soils. Presentations will emphasize the role of occlusion processes and interactions in presence of mineral particles and metal cations, as well as the kinetics (hot moments) and the spatialisation (hot spots) of these processes implementation.

Soil carbon stabilisation is the result of a combination of interacting biological, abiotic geochemical, and physical processes. This session will provide a systemic view by addressing the combination of different processes and drivers involved in soil carbon stabilisation. These include, but are not limited to, the burial and/or transformation of organic residues into detritivore faeces, the formation of microbial necromass, complexation with metals and adsorption onto soil minerals that vary with numerous processes affecting soil aeration, pH etc. Carbonate mineral formation could be one of the topics addressed, as well as the fate of dissolved carbon, whether in organic or inorganic form. The modelling of interactions between soil organisms and their impacts on the fate of organic matter, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling will also be a focus of this session, as well as the impacts of changes in climate, land use change and agricultural practices.