Analytical pyrolysis as a tool to probe soil organic matter

Abstract

The environmental importance of soil organic matter (SOM) in the ecosystems and in the C biogeochemical cycle is well established. Indeed, it represents the main terrestrial carbon pool and due to its vulnerability, it plays a key role in the global carbon cycle. However, as SOM is mainly composed of products resulting from microbial and physicochemical transformations of vegetal, microbial and animal biomass, it results in a heterogeneous mixture. This complexity, along with organo-mineral interactions, makes challenging the characterization of SOM composition at the molecular scale. Nevertheless, its precise characterization is essential to determine its fate in the environment and eventually to provide recommendations on sustainable practices. Among the available techniques to analyse SOM, thermal degradations appear as especially efficient as they are less selective than some chemical ones, leading to a larger view of the SOM chemical structure. Analytical pyrolysis was thus used in a wide range of soil science fields including studies on pedogenesis and anthropic effects. It allows to characterize SOM at the molecular level, including identification of biomarkers, and to compare different soils and/or different horizons in a given soil profile under various impacts (land use, evolution, etc.). The review of recent developments in data acquisition and/or processing leads us to provide guidelines to select the most appropriate method and to avoid possible pitfalls. Examples will illustrate the wide range of soil science applications and show the potential and limitations of this approach.