Soil-forming processes can be observed at various spatial and temporal scales, including molecular - microscopic - pedon - landscape scales, and a similarly wide range of temporal scales. They are influenced not only by the “classical five” soil-forming factors, but also by the factor “humans”. This holds true not only for the industrial period and urbanized areas, but also for palaeopedological and archaeological contexts.
In this session, we seek abstracts on all of these aspects of “soils as records in time and space”:
- soil processes proceeding at different scales, incl. interactions across scales (both spatial and temporal)
- human-induced soil changes (incl. mechanical and chemical changes, as well as the introduction of artificial parent materials)
- advances in understanding weathering mechanisms and mineralogical changes in time and space
- linkages of spatial patterns and processes in soil landscapes over time
- processes taking place on short time scales, thereby contributing to long-term soil changes
- aeolian inputs to soils, implications for soil genesis and ecologically relevant soil properties
- palaeosols and geomorphic features as records of former environments and human activity
- use of soil classification and soil maps, and possibly links to digital soil mapping and novel soil survey techniques such as proximal sensing technologies and detailed digital elevation models.