Soil acts as a complex matrix with feedback loops between climate and vegetation and plays a critical role in determining how ecosystems will adapt to Global Change. Research on the controls of soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics have shown that the effects of climate change on the accumulation and decomposition of SOM are often mediated and sometimes superseded by the biogeochemical characteristics of soils. These characteristics in return are often controlled by the length and intensity of weathering processes that modify minerals and create a distinct soil matrix in which biological processes take place. Understanding and predicting future carbon dynamics of the earth system, therefore, crucially rely on bringing the mechanistic understanding that we possess on the interplay of biology, climate and geochemistry into large scale model frameworks.

In this session we seek contributions that utilize natural laboratories like (bio-)climo,- chrono-, topo-, landuse-and litho-sequences in laboratory and field experiments as well as modelling approaches that can help to represent and simulate the mechanisms and effects of biotic and abiotic soil processes on organic matter dynamics and how resulting soil properties and organic matter stocks change across large spatial and long temporal scales.