Soil node – Melbourne TrACEES Platform
The Melbourne Trace Analysis for Chemical, Earth and Environmental Sciences (TrACEES) Platform’s Soil node has a strong capability in soils and environmental research and testing and offers a range of services, including nutrients, stable isotopes, total carbon & nitrogen, etc. The laboratory is accredited with ASPAC (Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council) certificate.
Selected services for various gas, soil, manure, plant samples include:
Sample preparation
- Moisture (105oC), soil dry and ball mill grind
- Dilution, acid digestion, filtration, encapsulation and weighing
Carbon and Nitrogen
- Stable isotopes of 13C and 15N
- Total N and C by Dumas combustion
- Total C with removal of carbonates
- Organic Carbon
- NO3/NO2-N and NH4-N in KCl extract
- Urea in KCl extract
Phosphorus
- Extractable P (Olsen or Colwell in bicarbonate extract)
- Fluoride extractable P (Bray 1-P)
- Kjeldahl P
Elemental and Ion
- Exchangeable bases (Ca, Mg, Na, K) in NH4Cl extract
- Mehlich multi-element extract (P, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn, B, S and Al)
- DTPA-extractable Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe
- Dithionite extractable Fe and Al
- Acid ammonium oxalate extractable Fe and Al
- Pyrophosphate extractable Fe and Al
- Colwell K (bicarbonate extraction)
Others
- Texture (hand bolus)
- Particle size analysis (hexametaphosphate hydrometer method)
- pH and electrical conductivity
Technology
- Isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS)
- Segmented flow analyser (SFA)
- Total carbon and nitrogen anlayser (TCN)
- Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer (ICPOES)
- Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS)
- Greenhouse gas chromatograph (gGC)
Associated research groups
Research groups that offer or are affiliated with this capability.
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Agricultural and Urban Waste Management
The Agricultural and Urban Waste Management research group aims to improve nutrient and resource recovery by investigating nutrient re-use and recycling and the recovery of other valuable resources from agricultural and urban waste
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Analytics, Modelling and Technology
The Analytics, Modelling and Technology research group focuses on creating opportunities for innovation in big data to support the global efforts towards sustainable intensification of agriculture.
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Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change
The Greenhous Gas and Climate Change Group measures, models and mitigates greenhouse gas (N2O, CO2 and CH4) emissions from diverse agricultural systems.
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Smart Fertilisers
The Smart Fertilisers Group adopts innovative techniques to develop a new generation of inhibitors and controlled-release fertilisers.
How to engage the group
Full details of the Soils node service and portal for submitting an analytical request can be found here.
Contact information
Michael Hall
Technical Specialist
michael.hall@unimelb.edu.au