1. Thermodynamic characterization of LF, H, and mineral soil layers from oak forest ecosystems: Exploring the role of proximate analysis
- Author
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Anika Seppelt, Juan Alberto Molina Valero, César Pérez-Cruzado, Nieves Barros, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Física Aplicada, and Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Escola Técnica Superior de Enxeñaría
- Subjects
Soil ,Energy ,Thermal analysis ,Proximate analysis ,Biochemistry ,General Environmental Science - Abstract
Studying the thermodynamic properties of soil organic matter is a developing field that involves the measurement of the energy stored by the soil. Quantifying soil energy content is still challenging despite different methodological approaches are available to calculate that value. One of the options is the proximate analysis following the guidelines for the energetic characterization of biomass. However, proximate analyses are still unexplored for soils. In this paper, we investigate the potential of this analysis to contribute to study soil from a thermodynamic perspective. With that goal, 31 soil samples collected in mature oak forests following a depth transect were used for elemental, thermal and proximate analysis. Proximate analyses and energetic characterization were performed by simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry The authors thank Verónica Piñeiro and Montse Gómez of the RIAIDT analytical services at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) for elemental and thermal analysis. Authors also thank Ken Byrne from the department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick (Ireland), Eva Vanguelova from the Alice Holt Forest Research Station (UK) and Ander Arias González from Neiker-Tecnalia Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (Spain) for the soil samples supply. This work has been developed under the project CONGESTION, funded by the by the Spanish Ministery of Science and Innovation (PID 2022-119204RB-C22) SI
- Published
- 2023