Analysis of Soil Structure Turnover with Garnet Particles and X-Ray Microtomography.

ABSTRACT: Matter turnover in soil is tightly linked to soil structure which governs the heterogeneous distribution of habitats, reaction sites and pathways in soil. Thereby, the temporal dynamics of soil structure alteration is deemed to be important for essential ecosystem functions of soil but very little is known about it. A major reason for this knowledge gap is the lack of methods to study soil structure turnover directly at microscopic scales. Here we devise a conceptual approach and an image processing workflow to study soil structure turnover by labeling some initial state of soil structure with small garnet particles and tracking their fate with X-ray microtomography. The particles adhere to aggregate boundaries at the beginning of the experiment but gradually change their position relative

SUBMITTER: Schluter S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4959753 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature