New book chapter: Role of Carbonates in the Physical Stabilization of Soil Organic Matter in Agricultural Mediterranean Soils

Pleased to announce the recent publication of:

Virto, I., Anton, R., Apesteguia, M., Plante, A.F., 2018. Role of carbonates in the physical stabilization of soil organic matter in agricultural Mediterranean soils. available here.

This is Chapter 9 (pages 121-136) in the book Soil Management and Climate Change: Effects on Organic Carbon, Nitrogen Dynamics, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions edited by Maria Ángeles Muñoz and Raúl Zornoza and published by Academic Press (ISBN: 978-0-12-812128-3). The book provides a state of the art overview of recent findings and future research challenges regarding physical, chemical and biological processes controlling soil carbon, nitrogen dynamic and greenhouse gas emissions from soils.

Our chapter focuses on the role of carbonates as indirect agents of the physical stabilization of organic C through their impact on soil structure. We describe a series of studies conducted in northern Spain to examine the particularities of carbonate-rich soil horizons in terms of structure development and stabilization. Through a series of studies, we propose a set of hypotheses to explain the relationship between soil mineralogy, soil architecture, and organic matter protection in carbonate-rich soils.