Soil contains different compartments of organic matter and fractionation is used to split up these compartments

soil organic matter is plant derived (dead roots/leaves) at can be stored in the soil for millenia as humus

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SOMfractionation is a website guiding students and scientists on soil organic matter (SOM, humus) fractionation methods. Soil organic matter consists of dead plant material and contains young fractions (dead roots/leaves) and old fractions (compost). Fractionation methods aim at separating young and old organic matter into 2 to 10 different fractions, which differ in their age. This can have several purposes, such as understanding processes of soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization, quantification of potentially labile SOC or short-term plant available macro-nutrients, quantification of environmental changes on long-term SOC sequestration or calibration and initialization of carbon turnover models. Based on specific research questions and views of SOC turnover and stabilization, many different fractionation methods have been developed and performed during the last three decades. The content of the website introduces 20 different fractionation methods which are used to isolate fractions with distinct turnover rates.

SOMfractionation

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