Search / participant

Participant: part of or influencing processes

Clay minerals

Appears in 41 processs and 83 steps. Everything below is linked: open a process to see it in context.

Top processes

Cation exchange, pH and soil solution chemistry

8 steps

Aggregate formation and pore structure

5 steps

Start: Aggregate formation and pore structure
End: Aggregate formation and pore structure
Polyvalent cations and oxides bridge clay to organic matter
and 2 more in this process

Base cation cycling (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)

5 steps

Mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) formation

4 steps

Dissolved organic matter and microbial products reach mineral surfaces
Polyvalent cation bridging with calcium and clay
Weak hydrophobic and van der Waals adsorption
and 1 more in this process

Clay mineralogy and organic matter set cation exchange capacity

4 steps

Matric potential and the soil water retention curve

4 steps

Show 35 more processes

Shrink-swell cycles and crack dynamics in clay soils

4 steps

Water infiltration, retention and movement

3 steps

Sequential soil pH buffer systems

3 steps

Clay mineral transformation sequence

3 steps

Salinity and sodicity

3 steps

Mineral surfaces accumulate and protect organic carbon as soil ages

3 steps

Living soil system

2 steps

Mineral weathering and parent material

2 steps

Carbon priming, microbial efficiency and soil carbon sequestration

2 steps

Shrink-swell cracking and self-mulching in smectitic soils

2 steps

Mineral surface area, reactive metals and the saturation of mineral-associated carbon

2 steps

Biological coupling: organic matter and soil food web

1 step

Microbial necromass and metabolites bind to minerals as stable organic matter

Enzymatic depolymerization of plant polymers

1 step

Enzymes diffuse and bind substrate or mineral surfaces

Occlusion in aggregates

1 step

Primary particles flocculate with clay and cations

Slaking, crust formation and runoff

1 step

Raindrops detach fragments and disperse clay

Nutrient availability and leaching

1 step

Base cation cycling (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium)

Macroaggregate turnover and microaggregate formation

1 step

Microbes decompose the enclosed organic matter; their products coat it with clay

Soil nitrogen mineralization and immobilization turnover

1 step

Ammonium pool in soil solution and on exchange sites

Soil nitrification, nitrate reduction and nitrogen gas losses

1 step

Clay minerals fix ammonium in interlayers

Preferential flow and macropore bypass

1 step

Swelling clay closes cracks as soil wets, sealing macropores

Pedogenesis and soil horizon development

1 step

Clay illuviation: clay moves down and accumulates in the Bt horizon

Enzyme kinetics: Michaelis-Menten rates and temperature response

1 step

Sorption to clay and organic coatings raises apparent Km and lowers apparent Vmax

Microbial necromass pathway to stable organic matter

1 step

Sorption of necromass compounds to clay and Fe/Al oxides

Soil viruses and bacteriophages: lysis, lysogeny and the viral shunt

1 step

Contact is limited to connected water films; clay and organic matter adsorb phage and can protect or inactivate them

Pyrite oxidation and acid sulfate weathering

1 step

Sulfuric acid dissolves clays and releases Al3+; jarosite forms as yellow mottles below about pH 3.7

Aluminium toxicity and liming of acid soils

1 step

Below pH 5.0 to 5.5 exchangeable Al3+ dominates the exchange complex

Microbial dormancy, the seed bank and resuscitation

1 step

Relic DNA from dead cells makes up about 40% of soil DNA on average (up to 80%) and inflates diversity estimates

Plant-available water from field capacity to wilting point

1 step

Texture sets the available water: roughly 0.05-0.10 m3 per m3 in sand and about 0.15-0.20 in silt loam

Rhizosphere phosphorus mobilization: phosphatases, organic acids and fast re-sorption

1 step

Phytate (inositol hexakisphosphate) is the main identified organic P but sorbs strongly to Fe and Al oxides and clay, limiting access

Unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and Richards flow

1 step

With Carsel & Parrish parameters in the van Genuchten-Mualem model, K at -10 kPa is about 1e-8 of Ks for sand but about 4e-3 of Ks for clay, so at that suction clay conducts more than sand

Earthworm drilosphere: gut passage, casts, middens and greenhouse gas effects

1 step

Casts dry or age into compact, water-stable aggregates that physically protect organic carbon

Wind erosion: saltation, dust emission and deposition

1 step

Soil moisture raises the threshold: u*t increases by [1 + 1.21 (w - w')^0.68]^0.5 with w' = 0.0014 (%clay)^2 + 0.17 (%clay), so a 20% clay soil at 8% gravimetric water has about twice the dry threshold

Decomposition

1 step

Microbial products and necromass bind to minerals as stable soil organic matter

Chronosequence: limiting nutrient and nutrient source shift as soil ages

1 step

Intermediate age: P is shifted into organic matter and secondary minerals

Soil formation

1 step

Mineral surfaces accumulate and protect organic carbon as soil ages

Often found with

Clay minerals 37 Water 18 Soil organic matter 17 Soil solution 15 Soil organic matter 13 Calcium 11 Soil water 11 Plant roots 10 Carbon 10 Iron oxides 9 Iron oxides 8 Smectite 8

Known by 719 participants and resources across the map.