Dr. Gabriele Schaumann, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rotard
To understand the appearance of water repellency in its dynamics and spatial heterogeneity, the physical and chemical causalities are to be studied. In collaboration with the subproject GEO, the 1H NMR relaxation will be used to investigate kinetics and mechanisms of wetting. In the second year there will be a focus on thermal and rheological properties of biofilms and their dependence on soil fauna, stress factors and xeno-(biotic) substances (subprojects MIKRO, FAUNA, KOLLOID and MOBIL). Differential Scanning Calometry and Thermo-Mechanical analysis as well as rheological methods will be used to identify gel properties of biofilms. In the third year, the effects of water repellency and glass transition behavior on the sorption of an organic marker/pointer-pollutant will be examined. The results are to enter a model of the subproject SOIL.
The subproject HUMUS aims to characterize the interaction between water and organic matter and to derive their effects on the sorption of hydrophobic organic pollutants.
In the first phase the subproject HUMUS examined the binding of water in soil organic matter by thermoanalytic methods (in particular DSC). In addition, 1H NMR relaxation (subproject GEO) as well as kinetic studies of the release and swelling of soil organic matter were performed. Field experiments and microcosmic investigations of the research group were carried out in order to analyze the connection between the water binding in soil organic matter and other soil properties. The first phase has shown that besides the macromolecular properties of the organic matter, biofilms and the water repellency also represent important characteristics of a habitat.
Dr. Gabriele Schaumann
Julia Hurraß
Dörte Diehl
Jeanette Regnery
Julia Bayer
Katharina Knobel
Jennifer Frank