Skip to main content

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
×
Home
  • Home
Chapter
  • Print publication year: 2015
  • Online publication date: November 2015

21 - Soil Biogeochemistry

from Part V - Terrestrial Plant Ecology
Export citation
Summary

Chapter Summary

Soils are the site of much geochemical and biological activity. Chemical weathering occurs when water, acids, and other substances react with minerals in rocks and soils. It occurs concurrent with physical weathering, which is the physical disintegration of rocks by various forces. Silicate clays and iron or aluminum oxide clays are the resistant end-products of chemical weathering. Chemical weathering releases elements into the soil solution for uptake by plants. In addition, the decomposition of plant detritus mineralizes nutrients for plant use. The rate of decomposition varies with temperature, soil water, and the chemical quality of litter. Various nitrogen trace gases diffuse out of soils during decomposition. The outcome of these processes is seen in the soil profile and its development over time. There are 12 broad classes of soil, known as soil orders, that vary in relation to degree of weathering, extent of soil development, climate, and associated vegetation. Parent material, time, topography, climate, and vegetation govern soil formation. Climate, particularly temperature and precipitation, determines the nature and rate of the weathering that occurs. Vegetation affects soil structure and fertility through the cycling of materials between plants and soil.

Weathering

The sand, silt, and clay particles that comprise mineral soil derive from physical and chemical weathering that breaks rocks into smaller and smaller fragments until individual minerals are exposed or new minerals are created. The mineralogical composition of rocks undergoes changes during weathering and is broadly grouped into primary and secondary minerals (Table 21.1). Primary minerals are resistant to weathering and change little in chemical composition during weathering. They are prominent in the sand and silt fractions of soil. Secondary minerals are products of the chemical breakdown or alteration of less resistant minerals. Secondary minerals are small in size and dominate the clay fraction of soil. Silicate clays and iron and aluminum oxide clays are prominent secondary minerals.

Physical weathering is the physical disintegration of rocks. It occurs from the scouring of rocks by water, wind, or ice.

Recommend this book

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this book to your organisation's collection.

Ecological Climatology
  • Online ISBN: 9781107339200
  • Book DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107339200
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×
Aber, J. D., and Melillo, J. M. (1980). Litter decomposition: Measuring relative contributions of organic matter and nitrogen to forest soils. Canadian Journal of Botany, 58, 416–421.
Aber, J. D., and Melillo, J. M. (1982). Nitrogen immobilization in decaying hardwood leaf litter as a function of initial nitrogen and lignin content. Canadian Journal of Botany, 60, 2263–2269.
Adair, E. C., Parton, W. J., Del Grosso, S. J., et al. (2008). Simple three-pool model accurately describes patterns of long-term litter decomposition in diverse climates. Global Change Biology, 14, 2636–2660.
Bai, E., Houlton, B. Z., and Wang, Y. P. (2012). Isotopic identification of nitrogen hotspots across natural terrestrial ecosystems. Biogeosciences, 9, 3287–3304.
Barbour, M. G., Burk, J. H., Pitts, W. D., Gilliam, F. S., and Schwartz, M. W. (1999). Terrestrial Plant Ecology, 3rd ed. Menlo Park, California: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company.
Bonan, G. B., Hartman, M. D., Parton, W. J., and Wieder, W. R. (2013). Evaluating litter decomposition in earth system models with long-term litterbag experiments: An example using the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4). Global Change Biology, 19, 957–974.
Bouwman, A. F. (1998). Nitrogen oxides and tropical agriculture. Nature, 392, 866–867.
Brady, N. C., and Weil, R. R. (1999). The Nature and Properties of Soils, 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Brovkin, V., van Bodegom, P. M., Kleinen, T., et al. (2012). Plant-driven variation in decomposition rates improves projections of global litter stock distribution. Biogeosciences, 9, 565–576.
Currie, W. S., Harmon, M. E., Burke, I. C., et al. (2010). Cross-biome transplants of plant litter show decomposition models extend to a broader climatic range but lose predictability at the decadal time scale. Global Change Biology, 16, 1744–1761.
Davidson, E. A. (1991). Fluxes of nitrous oxide and nitric oxide from terrestrial ecosystems. In Microbial Production and Consumption of Greenhouse Gases: Methane, Nitrogen Oxides and Halomethanes, ed. Rogers, J. E. and Whitman, W. B.. Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology, pp. 219–235.
Davidson, E. A., Keller, M., Erickson, H. E., Verchot, L. V., and Veldkamp, E. (2000). Testing a conceptual model of soil emissions of nitrous and nitric oxides. BioScience, 50, 667–680.
Firestone, M. K., and Davidson, E. A. (1989). Microbiological basis of NO and N2O production and consumption in soil. In Exchange of Trace Gases between Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere, ed. Andreae, M. O. and Schimel, D. S.. New York: Wiley, pp. 7–21.
Gholz, H. L., Wedin, D. A., Smitherman, S. M., Harmon, M. E., and Parton, W. J. (2000). Long-term dynamics of pine and hardwood litter in contrasting environments: Toward a global model of decomposition. Global Change Biology, 6, 751–765.
Harmon, M. E., Silver, W. L., Fasth, B., et al. (2009). Long-term patterns of mass loss during the decomposition of leaf and fine root litter: An intersite comparison. Global Change Biology, 15, 1320–1338.
Jenny, H. (1980). The Soil Resource: Origin and Behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Jobbágy, E. G., and Jackson, R. B. (2000). The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and its relation to climate and vegetation. Ecological Applications, 10, 423–436.
Likens, G. E., Bormann, F. H., Pierce, R. S., Eaton, J. S., and Johnson, N. M. (1977). Biogeochemistry of a Forested Ecosystem. New York: Springer-Verlag.
McGuire, A. D., Melillo, J. M., Joyce, L. A., et al. (1992). Interactions between carbon and nitrogen dynamics in estimating net primary productivity for potential vegetation in North America. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 6, 101–124.
Melillo, J. M., Aber, J. D., and Muratore, J. F. (1982). Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology, 63, 621–626.
Montgomery, D. R., Zabowski, D., Ugolini, F. C., Hallberg, R. O., and Spaltenstein, H. (2000). Soils, watershed processes, and marine sediments. In Earth System Science: From Biogeochemical Cycles to Global Change, ed. Jacobson, M. C., Charlson, R. J., Rodhe, H., and Orians, G. H.. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 159–194.
Parton, W. J., Schimel, D. S., Cole, C. V., and Ojima, D. S. (1987). Analysis of factors controlling soil organic matter levels in Great Plains grasslands. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 51, 1173–1179.
Parton, W. J., Stewart, J. W. B., and Cole, C. V. (1988). Dynamics of C, N, P and S in grassland soils: A model. Biogeochemistry, 5, 109–131.
Parton, W. J., Scurlock, J. M. O., Ojima, D. S., et al. (1993). Observations and modeling of biomass and soil organic matter dynamics for the grassland biome worldwide. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 7, 785–809.
Parton, W. J., Ojima, D. S., Cole, C. V., and Schimel, D. S. (1994). A general model for soil organic matter dynamics: Sensitivity to litter chemistry, texture and management. In Quantitative Modeling of Soil Forming Processes, ed. Bryant, R. B. and Arnold, R. W.. Madison, Wisconsin: Soil Science Society of America, pp. 147–167.
Parton, W., Silver, W. L., Burke, I. C., et al. (2007). Global-scale similarities in nitrogen release patterns during long-term decomposition. Science, 315, 361–364.
Raich, J. W., Rastetter, E. B., Melillo, J. M., et al. (1991). Potential net primary productivity in South America: Application of a global model. Ecological Applications, 1, 399–429.
Schlesinger, W. H. (1990). Evidence from chronosequence studies for a low carbon-storage potential of soils. Nature, 348, 232–234.
Schlesinger, W. H. (1997). Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change, 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press.
Cancel
Confirm
×