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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

A numerical simulation of soil temperature and moisture variations for a bare field

The diurnal variations of soil temperature and moisture content were simulated for a bare agricultural field in the San Joaquin Valley in California. The simulation pertained to the first 72 hours of drying, from saturation, of a sandy, clay loam soil. The results were compared with measurements of soil temperature and moisture content made at the field. Calculated and measured values of soil temperature trends agreed in general, but model results of moisture trends did not replicate observed diurnal effects evident at depths 4 centimeters or more below the surface.

Schieldge, J. P.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Accumulation of Soil Microbial Necromass Controlled by Microbe–Mineral Interactions

Soil organic matter (SOM) is a key reservoir for global carbon (C), supporting soil fertility and influencing greenhouse gas emissions. Microbial residues, composed of dead cells and cellular fragments, are major contributors to SOM formation. Yet, mechanisms by which minerals enhance the accumulation of microbial residues remain poorly understood. Here, we used 13 C-labeled glucose in a year-long incubation to trace microbial residue in sandy and silty soils. Across both soils, approximately 89% of retained microbial 13 C was recovered in the fine (<53 μm) mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM) pool. Within this pool, the light MAOM fraction, enriched in poorly crystalline Fe minerals, held 4.3 times more 13 C than the heavy, phyllosilicate-dominated MAOM fraction, despite accounting for only 17.2% of the total MAOM mass and 12.3% of the total soil mass. Along with 13 C enrichment, the light MAOM fraction showed greater abundance of N-containing groups, e.g., (amides and amino groups), indicative of microbial-derived compounds like proteins and amino sugars. Fe oxides in light MAOM from both soils were spatially dispersed. Microbial residue accumulation was greater in finer-textured silty soil. These findings demonstrate that mineral composition and texture jointly regulate microbial necromass accrual, highlighting light MAOM as a key pool for enhancing soil C storage.

13C isotope labeling↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-RC5 Moses Lake on-farm site

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-RC5 Moses Lake on-farm site. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-RC5 Moses Lake on-farm site produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - The Moses Lake On-farm site operated 2013-2015 as part of a cluster of 5 towers (RC1 to RC5) operated for the Regional Approaches to Climate Change (REACCH) USDA-supported research project. The field was a half-circle irrigated plot with the irrigation pivot located on the edge of the field and the flux tower located next to the center of the pivot. The field was in wheat from tower establishment in June 2013 to harvest in August 2013. A cover crop of arugula and mustard was grown from August to October 2013. Potatoes were grown April to August 2014 and wheat (a spring cultivar planted in fall) was grown October 2014 to June 2015. Soils are coarse sandy loam mollisols in the Timmerman series. The site topography is flat.

Chi, Jinshu [The Hong Kong University of Science a↗
NASA NTRS2011

Spring Tire

The spring tire is made from helical springs, requires no air or rubber, and consumes nearly zero energy. The tire design provides greater traction in sandy and/or rocky soil, can operate in microgravity and under harsh conditions (vastly varying temperatures), and is non-pneumatic. Like any tire, the spring tire is approximately a toroidal-shaped object intended to be mounted on a transportation wheel. Its basic function is also similar to a traditional tire, in that the spring tire contours to the surface on which it is driven to facilitate traction, and to reduce the transmission of vibration to the vehicle. The essential difference between other tires and the spring tire is the use of helical springs to support and/or distribute load. They are coiled wires that deform elastically under load with little energy loss.

Asnani, Vivake M.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Automated point dendrometer, soil moisture and temperature, and meteorological variables datasets, Oct 2024 – Nov 2025, G.A. Pearson Natural Area, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

This data package includes parsed, cleaned, and calibrated data from 48 TOMST automated point dendrometers, 48 TOMST 15 cm soil moisture sensors, and 12 TOMST 30 cm soil moisture sensors. The point dendrometers were cleaned with the “dendRoAnalyst” package in RStudio. The soil sensors were cleaned and calibrated for volumetric water content (VWC) with the “myClim” package in RStudio using the soil texture of the site (sandy clay loam). Additionally, this data package also includes raw data from 2 METER weather stations. Dendrometers and soil sensors have both their sensor ID, as well as the ID for the specific tree they were instrumented on at the G.A. Pearson Natural Area (GPNA) site and their experimental group. The purpose of these data is to understand how ponderosa pine trees in restored (thinned and burned) vs. unrestored (no treatment) areas are responding to drought and seasonal precipitation. These data use radial growth and soil moisture data to answer the following question: how are active season length, growth on different time scales (weekly, monthly, seasonally, and annually), growth during dry periods and after precipitation events, and environmental and biological drivers of radial growth different between restored versus unrestored areas?

Air temperature↗
DOE OSTI2025

GLBRC Soil Yearlong Incubation 13C-SIP-Lipidomics

Data package for Lipids represent a dynamic, yet stable pool of microbially-derived soil carbon This data is published under a CC0 license. The authors encourage data reuse and request attribution by referencing the below citations for the data packages and associated manuscript. Please cite as: Rempfert KR, Bell SL, Kasanke CP, Kyle JE, Hofmockel KS. 2025. GLBRC Soil Yearlong Incubation 13C-SIP-Lipidomics. [Data Set] PNNL DataHub. doi: Rempfert KR, Bell SL, Kasanke CP, Kyle JE, Hofmockel KS. 2025. MSV000097435: GLBRC soil yearlong incubation 13C-SIP-Lipidomics [Data Set] MassIVE. doi:10.25345/C57659T3K Rempfert KR, Bell SL, Kasanke CP, Kyle JE, Hofmockel KS. 2025. Lipids represent a dynamic, yet stable pool of microbially-derived soil carbon. In Prep This data package consists of compound-specific 13C SIP-lipidomics data from a yearlong tracer incubation experiment designed to investigate microbial lipid persistence in switchgrass bioenergy crop soils. In order to explore how lipid structure may modulate the persistence of C in soil lipids, we leveraged soils from two sites (Michigan - sandy texture, Wisconsin - silty texture) operated by the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC). These sites had comparable climates, identical management practices, but contrasting soil textures, allowing us to assess the variability of lipid accrual or degradation in soils as well as provide insight regarding the degree to which edaphic properties may regulate the retention of soil lipids. Untargeted lipidomics analyses were performed to identify 13C-labeled lipids in the soil microbiome after long-term incubation. Soils were supplemented with 100 micrograms glucose per gram dry soil (99 atom % 13C or natural abundance for paired control) and incubated; samples were collected two months and one year after glucose addition. Lipid extracts (MPLEx) were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and identified using LIQUID. Calculation of isotopic enrichment of lipids was performed by targeted approach using TarMet to quantify lipid isotopologues and IsoCorrectoR to correct for natural abundance isotopes. Contents: Data package contents reported here are the first version and contain downstream analysis files for the raw LC-MS mass spectrometry files (.mzXML) deposited at the MassIVE database repository under accession MSV000097435 (80 experimental runs; 5.85 GB) | MassIVE DOI: 10.25345/C57659T3K. Support files include the additional data download 'Read Me' file containing data descriptor information. Reported data download contents are structured for compliance with project data sharing guidelines, community standards initiatives, and sponsor stakeholder policies supporting FAIR data principles. Data processing software, analysis tools, and data workflows are listed below corresponding to the host repository long-term location. Available Data Downloads (0.3 GB): "GLBRC soil yearlong incubation 13C-SIP-Lipidomics_readme.txt" - 'Read Me' data package content file (txt) "GLBRC_DataPackage_analysis files" - Data processing files (Rmd) and saved intermediate data processing outputs (rds, csv, xlsx) "GLBRC_13C_lipidomics_dataset.xlsx" - processed data in tabular format (xlsx) Linked Software: LIQUID LC-MS Analysis Software | 10.5281/zenodo.6459462 Lipid Mini-On Software Tools | 10.5281/zenodo.1492803 pmartR Omics Statistical Software | 10.5281/zenodo.6108667 xcms (v4.3.3) TarMet (v1.1.1) IsoCorrectoR (1.24.0) Funding Acknowledgments: This research was supported by an Early Career Research Program award funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) Genomic Science program under FWP 68292, FWP 07880 and EMSL Exploratory Research Project 51095. A portion of this work was performed in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by OBER and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Battelle for the DOE under Contract DE-AC05-76RLO1830.

Rempfert, Kaitlin R [Pacific Northwest National La↗
NASA NTRS1988

Soil mechanics on the Moon, Mars, and Mulberry

From a soil mechanics point of view, the Moon is a relatively simple place. Without any water, organics, or clay minerals, the geotechnical properties of the lunar soil are confined to a fairly limited range. Furthermore, the major soil-forming agent is meteorite impact, which breaks the big particles into little particles; and simultaneously, cements the little particles back together again with molten glass. After about a hundred million years of exposure to meteorite impact, the distribution of particle sizes in the soil achieves a sort of steady state. The majority of the returned lunar soil samples have been found to be well-graded silty-sand to sandy-silt (SM in the Unified Soil Classification System). Each of the particle size distributions plots within a relatively narrow band, which appears to be uniform over the entire lunar surface. This further restricts the range of physical properties of the lunar surface. In contrast, Martian soils should exhibit an extremely wide range of properties. We already know that there is a small amount of water in the soil, greater than in the Martian atmosphere. Furthermore, the soil is suspected to be smectitic clay. That makes two out of the three factors that greatly affect the properties of terrestrial soils.

Carrier, W. D., III↗
NASA NTRS1981

Relationships between soil moisture-holding properties and soil texture, organic matter content, and bulk density

Specimens from the surface horizon and the subsoil of 62 soil horizons in Hedmark and Oppland were investigated to study how the mechanical composition of the soil, the organic matter content and the bulk density affect their porosity and air capacity and their total and available water content. Most of the specimens belonged to the loam group, and a smaller number was from sandy and silty types of soil. Equations were established to make it possible to calculate the water retention curves and the amount of available water from the above mentioned parameters. As a rule, errors derived from the equations are no greater than those which are found in similar research in other countries.

Riley, H. C. F.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Automated Microbial Metabolism Laboratory

The effect of several environmental parameters on previously developed life detection systems is explored. Initial attempts were made to conduct all the experiments in a moist mode (high soil volume to water volume ratio). However, only labeled release and measurement of ATP were found to be feasible under conditions of low moisture. Therefore, these two life detection experiments were used for most of the environmental effects studies. Three soils, Mojave (California desert), Wyaconda (Maryland, sandy loam) and Victoria Valley (Antarctic desert) were generally used throughout. The environmental conditions studied included: incubation temperature 3 C to 80 C, ultraviolet irradiation of soils, variations in soil/liquid ratio, specific atmospheric gases, various antimetabolites, specific substrates, and variation in pH. An experiment designed to monitor nitrogen metabolism was also investigated.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux US-ABc Archbold grazed improved pasture

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ABc Archbold grazed improved pasture. Site Description - This site is an improved pasture, regularly fertilized (nitrogen, ~26 kg/ha every 2 years) and limed (~229 kg/ha every 5 years, and historically received phosphorus fertilizer until 1986; . The soil type is a fine sandy Spodosol

Bernacchi, Carl [Global Change and Photosynthesis ↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux US-ABd Archbold ungrazed improved pasture

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ABd Archbold ungrazed improved pasture. Site Description - This site is an improved pasture, regularly fertilized (nitrogen, ~26 kg/ha every 2 years) and limed (~229 kg/ha every 5 years; and historically received phosphorus fertilizer until 1986; . The soil type is a fine sandy Spodosol . Grazing was removed in 2013-2015 for the duration of the study

Bernacchi, Carl [Global Change and Photosynthesis ↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-ABc Archbold grazed improved pasture

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ABc Archbold grazed improved pasture. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ABc Archbold grazed improved pasture produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - This site is an improved pasture, regularly fertilized (nitrogen, ~26 kg/ha every 2 years) and limed (~229 kg/ha every 5 years, and historically received phosphorus fertilizer until 1986; . The soil type is a fine sandy Spodosol

Bernacchi, Carl [Global Change and Photosynthesis ↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-ABd Archbold ungrazed improved pasture

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ABd Archbold ungrazed improved pasture. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-ABd Archbold ungrazed improved pasture produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - This site is an improved pasture, regularly fertilized (nitrogen, ~26 kg/ha every 2 years) and limed (~229 kg/ha every 5 years; and historically received phosphorus fertilizer until 1986; . The soil type is a fine sandy Spodosol . Grazing was removed in 2013-2015 for the duration of the study

Bernacchi, Carl [Global Change and Photosynthesis ↗
NASA NTRS2005

Microbial Preservation in Sulfates in the Haughton Impact Structure Suggests Target in Search for Life on Mars

Microbes in Haughton Crater Sulfates: Impact craters are of high interest in planetary exploration because they are viewed as possible sites for evidence of life [1]. Hydrothermal systems in craters are particularly regarded as sites where primitive life could evolve. Evidence from the Miocene Haughton impact structure shows that crater hydrothermal deposits may also be a preferred site for subsequent colonization and hence possible extant life: Hydrothermal sulfates at Haughton are colonized by viable cyanobacteria [2]. The Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic, is a 24 km-diameter crater of mid-Tertiary age. The structure preserves an exceptional record of impact-induced hydrothermal activity, including sulfide, and sulfate mineralization [3]. The target rocks excavated at the site included massive gypsum-bearing carbonate rocks of Ordovician age. Impact-remobilized sulfates occur as metre-scale masses of intergrown crystals of the clear form of gypsum selenite in veins and cavity fillings within the crater s impact melt breccia deposits [4]. The selenite is part of the hydrothermal assemblage as it was precipitated by cooling hot waters that were circulating as a result of the impact. Remobilization of the sulfate continues to the present day, such that it occurs in soil crusts (Fig. 1) including sandy beds with a gypsum cement. The sulfate-cemented beds make an interesting comparison with the sulfate-bearing sandy beds encountered by the Opportunity MER [5]. The selenite crystals are up to 0.3 m in width, of high purity, and transparent. They locally exhibit frayed margins where cleavage surfaces have separated. This exfoliation may be a response to freeze-thaw weathering. The selenite contains traces of rock detritus, newly precipitated gypsum, and microbial colonies. The rock detritus consists of sediment particles which penetrated the opened cleavages by up to 2cm from the crystal margins. Some of the detritus is cemented into place by gypsum, which must have been dissolved and reprecipitated from the host selenite.

Parnell, J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

The nature of lunar soil

Characteristics of lunar soil are examined. The paper includes topics such as lunar soil genesis, particle types, grain size distribution, grain shape distribution, specific gravity, minimum and maximum density, and relative density. Lunar soil, consisting of complex mixtures of mineral fragments, miscellaneous glasses, agglutinates, and lithic fragments, is produced primarily by meteorite impacts. The grain size distributions for soils exposed to meteorite reworking for 100 million yr or more are classified as well-graded silty sands and sandy silts. The specific gravity of submillimeter lunar soil samples varies from 2.9 to 3.24 and individual particles range from 1.0 to greater than 3.32. Differences in specific gravity, intragranular porosity, particle shape, surface texture, and grain arrangements result in wide ranges in minimum and maximum densities. Meteorite impacts cause in situ lunar soil to have a low relative density at the surface which increases rapidly to a very high relative density at depths greater than 10 cm to 20 cm.

Carrier, W., III↗
NASA NTRS1976

Remote sensing of the surface emissivity at 9 microns over the globe

The infrared spectral measurements made by the Nimbus 4 infrared interferometer spectrometer (Iris) for a period of about 10 months are used to study the surface emissivity properties over the globe. It is found that the surface emissivity at 9 microns, as measured by Iris with a circular field of view of about 100-km diameter, is significantly less than unity over arid and semiarid areas. The spectral features in the 8-12-micron window observed over these lands reveal emissivity characteristics essentially due to quartz (SiO2). It is found that these emissivity features are significantly weakened by the presence of clay, clay horizons, or pedogenic horizons in the soil. Low emissivity is observed over sandy or sandy loam areas (psamments) with no clay or pedogenic horizons.

Prabhakara, C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The mass balance of soil evolution on late Quaternary marine terraces, northern California

Mass-balance interpretation of a soil chronosequence provides a means of quantifying elemental addition, removal, and transformation that occur in soils from a flight of marine terraces in northern California. Six soil profiles that range in age from several to 240,000 yr are developed in unconsolidated, sandy-marine, and eolian parent material deposited on bedrock marine platforms. Soil evolution is dominated by (1) open-system depletion of Si, Ca, Mg, K, and Na; (2) open-system enrichment of P in surface soil horizons; (3) relative immobility of Fe and Al; and (4) transformation of Fe, Si, and Al in the parent material to secondary clay minerals and sesquioxides. Net mass losses of bases and Si are generally uniform with depth and substantial, in some cases approaching 100 percent; however, the rate of loss of each element differs markedly, causing the ranking of each by relative abundance to shift with time. Loss of Si from the sand fraction by dissolution and particle-size diminution, from about 100 percent to less than 35 percent over 240 ky, mirrors a similar gain in the silt and clay size fractions. The Fe originally present in the sand fraction decreases from greater than 80 percent to less than 10 percent, whereas the amount of Fe present in the clay and crystalline oxyhydroxide fractions increases to 25 percent and 70 percent, respectively.

Merritts, Dorothy J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Guide to using lunar soil and simulants for experimentation

It is pointed out that lunar soil can be described as well-graded silty sands or sandy silts with an average particle size by weight in the range from 0.040 to 0.130 mm. The density of in situ bulk lunar soil is typically 1.4 to 1.9 g/cu cm. Changes in soil from moon to laboratory are considered along with some critical differences between simulants and lunar soil. Attention is given to agglutinates, iron metal distributed throughout the agglutinatic glass, solar wind hydrogen, and major lunar minerals (anorthite, pyroxene, ilmenite, olivine). The use of lunar fines as experimental samples is discussed, and the characteristics of simulants for experiments are examined, taking into account grain size distribution, particle type distribution, a highlands simulant, and a high titanium mare simulant. Simulants for testing equipment and structures are also described.

Allton, J. H.↗