In order to understand past and future earth system dynamics, soils need to be represented correctly as they form the cornerstone of a complex feedback loop between climate, atmosphere and vegetation. While current assessment tools have a representation of soil physics and soil biogeochemistry, they ignore changes in soil physical properties as a dynamic process. Land degradation caused by human activities calls into question the assumption that soil profile characteristics can be considered static. There is increasing awareness that humans today are the planet’s major soil forming factor and this leads to the rapid evolution of basic soil characteristics (eg soil thickness, horizon development, and hydrology). Humans now manage over half of the land surface and soil physical properties as a dynamic process should be accounted for when assessing the services provided by soils – e.g. storage and cycling of organic matter and nutrients, production and consumption of GHG and production of food and biomass.

The goal of this session is to link studies providing case-studies of both long- and short-term processes/patterns with studies unraveling the history of human-environment interactions at local and larger spatial and temporal scales. We encourage contributions from a diversity of disciplines, including geomorphology, biogeosciences, land degradation, and soil science. We especially welcome studies emphasizing new tools, datasets, and ideas.