Will Atkinson & Jana Suriano PEI Summer Research 2016 The Role of Minerals on the Cycling and Stability of Organic Carbon in Soils Will Atkinson & Jana Suriano PEI Summer Research 2016
Myneni Group Department of Geosciences Molecular Environmental Geochemistry Chemistry of natural organics Biogeochemistry of surfaces Ion solvation & aqueous chemistry
The environmental processes governing climate change What happens to carbon in the terrestrial biosphere?
Soil organic matter (SOM) formation debated
Importance of SOM NOT debated Lehmann 2015 http://www.treepower.org/soils/soilorganicmatter.html
The environmental processes governing climate change What happens to SOM?
Organo-mineral interactions What type of minerals? What kind of compounds? How do minerals AND om associate? How is OM stabilized in soil?
Three areas of inquiry: NOM Model minerals In situ soil samples Lab adsorption experiments with OM, surface chemistry Ecosystems with different OM, soil minerals and climate Characteristics: DOM, POM, insoluble OM…
Model systems Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR)
Further investigation Infrared spectroscopy (ATR FTIR) Mass spectroscopy Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy X-ray absorption spectroscopy Synchrotron light source …combine analytical techniques
DOM Sampling, June 2016
Analysis of Field Soil Samples
Partitioning Pine Barrens soil samples
Example IR spectra
Field Sites: Sierra Nevada Research Institute (CA) – 08/2016
Future Field Sites Tropical: Costa Rica or Panama Boreal: Alaska Winter 2017? Costa Rica: Área de Conservación Guanacaste Panama: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute More Fe- and Al-oxide rich Boreal: Alaska Summer 2017 Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site More clay-rich www4.uwsp.edu
Acknowledgements Satish Myneni The Myneni lab group Melissa Thaw (University of California-Merced) Princeton Environmental Institute Smith-Newton Family Scholars Program