Structure and Chemical Composition of Soil C-Rich Al-Si-Fe Coprecipitates at Nanometer Scale.

Soil carbon stabilization is mainly driven by organo-mineral interactions. Coprecipitates, of organic matter with short-range order minerals, detected through indirect chemical extraction methods, are increasingly recognized as key carbon sequestration phases. Yet the atomic structure of these coprecipitates is still rather conceptual. We used transmission electron microscopy imaging combined with energy-dispersive X-ray and electron energy loss spectroscopy chemical mappings, which enabled direct nanoscale characterization of coprecipitates from Andosols. A comparison with reference synthetic coprecipitates showed that the natural coprecipitates were structured by an amorphous Al, Si, and Fe inorganic skeleton associated with C and were therefore even less organized than short-range order minerals usually described. These amorphous types of coprecipitates resembled previously conceptualized nanosized coprecipitates of inorganic oligomers with organics (nanoCLICs) with heterogeneous elemental proportions (of C, Al, Si, and Fe) at nanoscale. These results mark a new step in the high-resolution imaging of organo-mineral associations, while shedding further light on the mechanisms that control carbon stabilization in soil and more broadly in aquatic colloid, sediment, and extraterrestrial samples.

Can stable isotopes quantify soil carbon build-up from organic fertilizers?

The application of organic fertilizers (OF) can supply carbon (C) to the soil in crop fields. OF-derived C (OF-C) is often estimated using the differential method that can be biased due to indirect effects of OF on soil C. This study tested three methods to quantify OF-C: (i) the widespread differential method, (ii) the synchronic isotope method comparing plots with and without OF and (iii) the asynchronic isotope method mimicking a trial without a control plot. These methods were implemented on an Arenosol and an Andosol supplied during 13 years with slurry or compost. The results highlighted the relevance of using the synchronic isotope method, which focuses on the direct effect of OFs on the soil organic matter (without bias of vegetation change) and considers control soil's evolution. The higher the isotopic difference between soil and OF, the shorter the method implementation time needed: for an initial difference of 7.5 ‰ and 3.5 ‰, quantification is suitable after 4 and 9 years of fertilization respectively. Attention should be paid to OF-δ13C variability to guarantee the method validity. The method proved to be suitable to study the factors controlling the OF-C fate in tropical soils.