Linking the field and the atomic scales: Soft x-ray spectroscopy of soil chemical processes

科学今天面临的几个重大挑战涉及能够更好地管理地球的土壤资源：通过集约化农业以可持续的方式养活90亿人，在气候变化的情况下保护我们的水资源，有效地恢复和恢复受损的生态系统供未来使用，以及提高生物所需营养的管理效率。研究人员越来越多地将同步加速器作为工具，以提供对土壤和植物中发生的过程的分子水平的理解，以帮助解决这些复杂的问题。在这项建议中，我们将开发必要的工具来扩展软X射线光谱，以了解土壤样本中的生命元素(C、N、O、P、S、钙、镁、铁、铜、锌)。*在这项建议中，我们有两个主要目标。第一个是充分开发一种新的软X射线方法--激发发射矩阵谱，以提供广泛的能量和高通量的土壤样品筛选。如果成功，那么同步加速器将能够通过运行统计上显著数量的样本，以更有意义的方式与生态研究人员对接。第二个目标是研究新被接受的土壤连续统模型对土壤有机碳在自然系统中如何形成和行为的一些影响。

Several of the grand challenges facing science today involve being able to better manage Earth's soil resources: Feeding 9 Billion people sustainably via intensification of agriculture, preserving our water resources in the face of a changing climate, effectively restoring and rehabilitating damaged ecosystems for future use, and becoming more efficient at the stewardship of nutrients required for living things. Researchers are increasingly turning to synchrotrons as tools to provide a molecular-level understanding of processes occurring in soils and plants to assist in solving these complex problems. In this proposal, we would develop the necessary tools to extend soft x-ray spectroscopy to understand the elements of life (C, N, O, P, S, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn) in soil samples.******We have two major objectives in this proposal. The first is to fully develop a novel soft x-ray approach, Excitation-Emission Matrix Spectroscopy, to provide wide energy high throughput screening of soil samples. If successful, then synchrotrons would be able to interface with ecological researchers in a more meaningful way by running statistically significant numbers of samples. The second objective is to investigate some of the implications for the newly accepted soil continuum model for how soil organic carbon forms and behaves in natural systems.