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Information - SSS8 The mechanisms, especially diffusion, by which soil organic matter influences chemical fate: Chromium as a case study (co-listed in BG)
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Event Information |
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Convective transport of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is critical in soil-hydrosphere interactions and has been intensively studied. However, most in-situ processes of bio-utilisable substances in soils are controlled to a large degree not by convection but by diffusion between:
- sources and sinks. This is especially importance in regards to carbon sequestration.
- different pore spaces with different capacities for the storage and release of ecologically relevant compounds.
In the case of sediments diffusion is almost the only abiotic process for material transport.
Although the basic process of diffusion is understood (Fick´s Laws), the actual description and understanding in sediments, and especially, soils is limited because of experimental difficulties, non-homogeneous pore structure, and, in the case of soils, unsaturated conditions with largely varying water contents.
The purpose of this special session is to consolidate and exchange our state of the art knowledge in respect to diffusion processes in soils and sediments. In soils this is of special importance, since it is anticipated that Global Change will change the hydrological conditions of many soils, and a changing hydrology can result through diffusion in different material fluxes.
In summary: Within most of the sediment, soil, and rhizosphere matrices, effects and affects can only occur through diffusion processes. Without understanding them, we can not understand the system.
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