The in situ analysis of organic matter in soils

Traditionally, studies on soil organic matter (SOM) begin with the extraction of SOM from soils, its fractionation into humic acid, fulvic acid, and humin, followed by de-ashing of each fraction. These are tedious, laborious and inefficient procedures that do not provide any chemical information on these materials. Instead, recently developed methods such as solid-state 13C NMR and pyrolysis – field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS) can now be used for the in situ analysis of SOM in soils. These methods identify the major chemical components of SOM without extractions and fractionations, and yield valuable information on the main chemical structures in these materials. A better knowledge of the structural chemistry of SOM will help SOM chemists and other soil scientists to better understand the complex chemical and biochemical reactions that occur in soils, and will enable them to develop practices that will improve soil management and soil productivity. Key words: Extraction, fractionation, solid state 13C NMR, pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry, chemical composition