Soils sustain complex patterns of life and act as biogeochemical reactors producing and consuming a large amount of gas molecules. They play a fundamental role in the temporal evolution of concentrations of many gas species in the atmosphere (greenhouse gases, biogenic volatile organic compounds, nitrous acid, isotopic composition…). On the other hand, the specific gas concentration in the soil may differ substantially from the typical atmospheric concentrations and can also affect many soil functions, such as root and plant growth, microbial activity, and stabilization of soil organic carbon. Thus, the production, consumption and transport of gases in the different soil types have important ecological implications for the earth system.
The factors affecting the soil gas processes range from physical soil structure (porosity, soil texture and structure,…), type and amount of living material (microbiota, root systems), soil chemical properties (carbon and nitrogen contents, pH,…) and soil meteorological conditions (temperature, water content,…). Different scientific backgrounds are therefore required to improve the knowledge about their influence which is made even more difficult due to the very large spatial heterogeneity of these factors and the complexity of their interactions.
This session will be the place to present and exchange about the measurement techniques, data analyses and modelling approaches that can help to figure out the temporal and spatial variability of the production/consumption and transport of gases in soils. In addition to mechanisms related to carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), including the geochemical cycles, also abstracts about volatile carbon compounds produced by plant and microbes, or phenomena including noble gases such as Helium and Radon are highly welcome A special attention will be given to the research including critical situations such as drought or waterlogged soils, and special gas transport phenomena in soils including plant mediated gas transport.