Soil excursion to #Waldlabor🌲
Last week, we took 20 students to see their first soil profile and also literally get in touch with soil for the first time💡They learned about the importance of relief in soil formation and were suprised by the strong heterogeneity within a few 100m.

Resin is applied to preserve the chronosequence at the Sustenpass. It takes 24 hours until extraction and more hours of prep before framing. A work of art to reveal millennia of #SoilFormation. Stay tuned for the final #SoilMonolith!

Special thanks to our engineer: lnkd.in/eqhr92aj

🌿 How does the past shape the success of today’s reforestation efforts?

Our master student Virginia Molin identified spatial patterns of deforestation in Kibale national park.
Protection and reforestation efforts have driven forest recovery, even in areas that were degraded already in the 1950s.

A challenging dig through 50-80% stones in the stunning landscape of the Sustenpass revealed a unique sequence of #alpine soils with ages from 30-10,000 years!
For more details on the examined chronosequence read: Musso et al. (2019) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#SoilFormation #SoilScience

Shrinkage analysis of repacked soil samples enables quantifying the soil's potential physical quality The structural porosity of repacked samples was optimized compared to undisturbed soil. Repacking soil samples can preserve soil fine porosity but not coarse porosity. Physical properties of repacke...

The new paper published by our PhD Candidate Cédric Deluz focuses on the physical properties of soil samples repacked from aggregate beds, shedding light on the potential to retrieve soil pore properties at the field scale through shrinkage analysis📈.

acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🔎Soil prospection in #Kenia🔎

Last week, our new PostDoc Xavier Dupla and master student Jeremy Cook set out to find suitable soil for a potting experiment to study #enhancedrockweathering, carbon dioxide removal #cdr, and yield development under different feedstock applications🌾.

I joined with @sebdoetterl.bsky.social the AfroGrow kick-off meeting in Nairobi.

Exciting work on sustainable agroforestry in Africa to come. I am looking forward to being partially part of this after starting this adventure during my time at @eth-soilres.bsky.social

afrogrow-project.eu

a horse grazing on the edge of a paddock trail

the compacted soil next to a paddock trail that is covered with a protective grid

🐎 New paper out by Charlotte Hiltebrand on the influence of horse paddock trails on the soil🐎

This on-site study quantifies the impact of horses kept on paddock trails on the soil and determines possible protective effect of paddock grids:

bsssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Twelve professors appointed At the meeting on 5 and 6 March 2025, the ETH Board appointed five female and seven male professors at the request of ETH President Joël Mesot. The Board also awarded the title of

We are thrilled to announce that the head of our research group Prof. Dr. Sebastian Doetterl just got tenured 🎉 👏 . It's great to see that the years of hard work paid off. Congratulations!
ethz.ch/en/news-and-...

Picture 1 (within trench): Source Keystone/AFP/Anatolii Stepanov
Picture 2 (map): Source Haase et al. 2007, ESDC 2013
Picture 3 (above trench): Source Keystone/AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka

Above view of a trench at the Ukrainian front lines. The excavated black soil is clearly visible in a heap in the background.

This picture shows a soil map of Europe with the fertile Chernozems in the East. Part of Romania and the central, Southern and Eastern part of Ukraine is highlighted, which is where these fertile soils are found.

Inside view of a trench at the front lines of Ukraine. In the middle of the trench is a soldier walking. The walls of the trench show the fertile black soils of Ukraine. The soil is very rich in humus and this black humus layer is almost one meter deep.

Sebastian Doetterl talked in Echo der Zeit about the fertile soils (Chernozems) of #Ukraine and their geopolitical and strategical importance:

Listen to it [German]: open.spotify.com/episode/2tLD...

Check out the blog post Prof. Dr. Sebastian Doetterl wrote last year: ethz.ch/de/news-und-...

✨ Meet Joelle Brunner ✨ (she/her), a master's student focusing on #tundra soils from a glacial retreat valley in Greenland as part of the #Greenfjord project. She aims to identify how differences in plant biomass inputs and #soil physiochemistry influence patterns in #SOC stabilization and turnover.

Introducing a soil monolith with soil erosion 🪄

Only 30 cm of soil is left on the eroded slope, fertile topsoil settled in the valley. This stark contrast shows how centuries of farming shaped these #soils!

#SoilScience #Erosion #Agriculture #Fertility #LandUseChange @usyseth.bsky.social

🌾 In a @ethzurich.bsky.social and @agroscope.bsky.social project, environmental impacts of paddy rice cultivation in Switzerland are being monitored. Paddy rice cultivation can support wetland-dependent species and diversify arable crop land.

@eth-soilres.bsky.social

Read more: bit.ly/4gVcBix

Introducing our Soil Profile Collection: A unique educational resource for students @ethzurich.bsky.social. Each #SoilMonolith showcases the global diversity of soils & the impacts of humans. Stay tuned as we explore the stories of these soils! #SoilProfileCollection #SoilEducation #SoilDiversity

✨Meet the Soil Resources group! ⛏️✨
We study soil biogeochemical cycling in remote regions, the effects of enhanced rock weathering on soil health and impacts of management on soil functioning and crop production.
#SoilResourcesETH #ETHZurich #EnvironmentalSciences #SoilScience #Biogeochemistry