Soil Biogeochemistry Laboratory

Soil is crucial to life on Earth and plays a central role in many of today’s environmental challenges, ranging from climate change and water pollution to biodiversity loss and food supply. At SOIL, we aim to understand the fundamental principles and processes that govern the biogeochemical cycling of key elements in soils, such as carbon. We are particularly interested in electron transfer processes and their role in element cycling. To this end, we study interactions between the living and non-living components of soils using a multidisciplinary approach. We employ experimental techniques used in environmental chemistry, pedology, geology, and microbiology and combine field studies with laboratory experiments and modeling efforts to gain a mechanistic understanding of soil processes.