Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 11, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19792-9
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Funding
- NSF IGERT in Cross-Scale Biogeochemistry and Climate at Cornell University (NSF) [1069193]
- Technical University of Munich Institute for Advanced Study
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Alumni Foundation
- NSF [DMR-1654596]
- Packard Foundation
- NSF MRSEC program [DMR-1719875]
- DOE EFRC BES [DE-SC0001086]
- Cornell University
- Weill Institute
- KIC
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The capacity of soil as a carbon (C) sink is mediated by interactions between organic matter and mineral phases. However, previously proposed layered accumulation of organic matter within aggregate organo-mineral microstructures has not yet been confirmed by direct visualization at the necessary nanometer-scale spatial resolution. Here, we identify disordered micrometer-size organic phases rather than previously reported ordered gradients in C functional groups. Using cryo-electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), we show organo-organic interfaces in contrast to exclusively organo-mineral interfaces. Single-digit nanometer-size layers of C forms were detected at the organo-organic interface, showing alkyl C and nitrogen (N) enrichment (by 4 and 7%, respectively). At the organo-mineral interface, 88% (72-92%) and 33% (16-53%) enrichment of N and oxidized C, respectively, indicate different stabilization processes than at organo-organic interfaces. However, N enrichment at both interface types points towards the importance of N-rich residues for greater C sequestration.
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