EUROSOIL 2012

S9.1.

Title: Soil genesis and soil micromorphology
Convener: Stahr Karl - Hohenheim University - Germany
Co-Conveners: Kapur Selim - University of Cukurova - Turkey
Poch Lleida Rosa - University of Lleida - Spain

With soil genesis, we try to understand  especially the processes, which happen in soils and change their properties. Understanding of soil development is crucial also for many fields of application. Better understanding of soil development also helps in the assessment of vulnerability of soils. Micromorphology provides a whole set of methods, which are able to describe soil microstructure, soil mineralogy and especially new formations, which are caused by translocations and transformations. With soil micro morphology also the locality of a specific feature may be interpreted in a sequence of processes. Therefore soil genesis needs soil micro morphology and soil micro morphology helps to prove soil genetic high potasses. Papers are invited from all lithologies and climatic zones. 

S9.2.

Title: Advancement in soil micromorphology
Convener: Terribile Fabio - University of Napoli Federico II - Italy

In the last decades, soil micromorphology has given important contribution to the advancement of soil science and its application in agriculture and forestry. This was possible thanks to the uniqueness of the approach that enable to observe and analyze the soil system at multiple scales of investigation and also to the development many different analytical approaches. The complexity of today's environmental challenges indeed require to rethink soil micromorphology and to develop new tools to better understand the physical, chemical and biological processes underlying soil functioning. This symposium aims to gather experts to present and discuss, through both case studies and/or methodological works, major advances in the micromorphology of the soil investigation including new approaches and new techniques such as ICP-laser ablation, new applications of micro-analytical techniques (EDS, WDS), synchrotron techniques, microdrilling of thin sections, X-ray microtomography, new procedures for image processing and other novel techniques 

S9.3.

Title: Imaging structure and probing properties of soil interfaces and aggregates
Convener: Totsche Kai Uwe - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena - Germany
Co-Conveners: Rennert Thilo - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena - Germany
Vogel Hans-Jörg - Helmhotzzentrum für Umweltforschung - Germany

Soil is built of a dynamic and hierarchically organised system of various organic and inorganic constituents and organisms. Their combination and spatial structure defines a large, complex and heterogeneous biogeochemical interface, which is a hotspot of important soil chemical and biological processes. The interplay and interdependencies of biochemical and biophysical processes governing the formation, maturation, fate and properties of biogeochemical interfaces and soil aggregates have still to be unravelled. A crucial prerequisite for the understanding of processes occurring at biogeochemical interfaces is to elucidate their mineral and organic composition, the microbial communities acting at and forming biogeochemical interfaces and the spatial arrangement of these constituents including the hierarchical structure and architecture of the pore network and of aggregates. Recent advances in tomographic techniques have helped to image and to visualize the soils’ pore-network structure and interfaces. Spectroscopic (e.g., XAS, XPS, SIMS) and microscopic methods (e.g., SEM, TEM, AFM) have helped to characterize interface properties at the micro- to nano-scale. To this session, we therefore invite contributions on imaging the soil structure, on the characterization of interfaces and aggregates allowing for the analysis of properties, and the combination of both.