Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
SSS5.2 | Minerals matter - how minerals shape soil environments
Minerals matter - how minerals shape soil environments
Convener: Laura SchneeECSECS | Co-conveners: Katharina LenhardtECSECS, Robert Mikutta, Christian Mikutta
Minerals constitute the very building blocks of soils and control important soil functions such as water infiltration, contaminant immobilisation, nutrient provision, and carbon storage. They create habitats for soil organisms, modify soil pore spaces for gas and liquid transport through soil, and take part in numerous chemical reactions involving both organic and inorganic substances. In order to establish soils as part of the solutions for the abundant anthropogenic challenges, a thorough understanding of soil mineralogy, its dynamics in space and time, and of interactions between soil minerals with other soil components is critical. This session celebrates the fundamental contributions of soil mineralogy to our understanding of soil systems at multiple scales. We invite contributions that feature soil minerals as controls of matter and energy fluxes, their interaction with organic and inorganic soil nutrients and contaminants, and as controls of physical soil properties. Contributions addressing soil mineral transformations in dynamic environments are equally welcome. Our session offers a broad forum to discuss the most recent advances in exploring the diverse functions of soil minerals at any temporal or spatial scale and to address their responses to changing environmental conditions. This will help identify future directions for soil mineralogical research and strengthen the perspective of soil minerals as fundamental mediators of soil physical and (bio)chemical processes.