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Soil Organic Matter

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Scheffer/SchachtschabelSoil Science

Abstract

In most topsoils, the mass of the soil organic matter only amounts to a few percent, but has an important influence on all soil functions and plays a central role in the global carbon cycle. For this reason, the carbon content, or the dark color value, is a differentiating criterion for soil descriptions in German and international classifications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Sciences, Christian-Albrechts-University zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Hans-Peter Blume, Heiner Fleige & Rainer Horn

  2. Institute for Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Hohenheim University, Stuttgart, Germany

    Ellen Kandeler & Karl Stahr

  3. Chair of Soil Science, Technische Universität München, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany

    Ingrid Kögel-Knabner

  4. Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ruben Kretzschmar

  5. Institute of Ecology, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Berndt-Michael Wilke

  6. Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Gerhard W. Brümmer

Authors
  1. Hans-Peter Blume
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  2. Gerhard W. Brümmer
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Correspondence to Ingrid Kögel-Knabner .

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Blume, HP. et al. (2016). Soil Organic Matter. In: Scheffer/SchachtschabelSoil Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30942-7_3

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