Taking the Biomantle Concept One Step Farther.

The influence of biota on the formation of soils is profound and obvious. Specifically, biota are able to supply a large amount of work to the soil system, thereby influencing the process rates, intensities, and the state space a soil can explore. This talk explores the possibility that the biota-soil linkage has more in common with condensed matter physics than we might initially expect, and that this view opens up a large suite of testable hypotheses in soil genesis. The mathematics which accompany this view may also provide a toolbox for incorporating dynamic soil-mediated Earth surface processes into long-timescale modelling efforts. Interestingly, evidence for this viewpoint can be found by observing soil horizons!