Practical application of thermogravimetry in soil science

Soil samples collected in South America, North America and West Siberia were measured by thermogravimetry to verify the connection between mass losses and soil respiration represented by the rate and amount of carbon dioxide measured under laboratory conditions. It was demonstrated that linear correlation between those parameters is a common feature for soils originating from different climatic and geographic regions. Significant coefficients of determination were observed in temperature areas corresponding to the moisture evaporation and degradation of soil organic matter (SOM). It was concluded that the correlations are the consequences of soil-forming processes mediated by microorganisms over a long time period. The comparison of experimental data with earlier results showed that disturbance of those processes causes the decrease in observed correlations. The subtraction of thermal mass losses of incubated and non-incubated soils revealed the change in water holding character in all samples, which was ascribed to the transformation of SOM and its water-holding properties during the incubation. In contrast, the changes in thermal mass losses above 200 °C showed that this area reflects the specificity of biological transformation of each soil sample. Further, applied approach and obtained results indicate the necessity of very gentle soil sample preparation and especially gentle air drying to get comparable results about intrinsic soils’ features in different regions.