Long-term soil warming decreases microbial phosphorus utilization by increasing abiotic phosphorus sorption and phosphorus losses.

Phosphorus (P) is an essential and often limiting element that could play a crucial role in terrestrial ecosystem responses to climate warming. However, it has yet remained unclear how different P cycling processes are affected by warming. Here we investigate the response of soil P pools and P cycling processes in a mountain forest after 14 years of soil warming (+4 °C).

Differences in the behaviour of trace and rare-earth elements in oxidizing and reducing soil environments: Case study of Terra Rossa soils and Cretaceous palaeosols from the Istrian peninsula, Croatia.

This study compares the differences between the distribution of trace elements and rare-earth elements (REEs) formed under reducing and oxidizing soil conditions during pedogenesis on carbonate bedrock. Terra rossa (TR) soils, representing pedogenesis under oxic conditions, and Cretaceous palaeosols (CP), representing pedogenesis under reducing conditions, were sampled on the Istrian peninsula. They were studied by ICP-MS, ICP-OES, XRF, XRD, sequential extraction and statistical analyses.

Atmospheric carbonation reduces bioaccessibility of PAHs in industrially contaminated soil.

Sorptive Bioaccessibility Extraction (SBE) was used to monitor changes in accessibility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during storage of historically contaminated alkaline soil (Σ US EPA 16 + 2 further PAHs: 2452 ± 69 mg kg, n = 3). While total concentrations of PAHs were rather stable during storage for 561 days at 4 °C, PAH accessibility declined by 95% due to atmospheric carbonation. The formation of carbonates was evidenced by an increase of inorganic soil carbon and by carbonate coatings on black soil particles (SEM-EDX) that could be dissolved by providing neutral to acidic soil conditions.

Enhanced Cu and Cd sorption after soil aging of woodchip-derived biochar: What were the driving factors?

Biochar (BC) is increasingly tested as a soil amendment for immobilization of heavy metals (HMs) and other pollutants. In our study, an acidic soil amended with wood chip-derived BC showed strongly enhanced Cu and Cd sorption after 15 months of aging under greenhouse conditions. X-ray absorption near edge structure suggested formation of Cu(OH) and CuCO and upon aging increasingly Cu sorption to the BC organic phase (from 9.