In Antarctica ornithogenic soils from penguin guano play an important role in nutrient cycles in the ecosystem. Soil organic matter (SOM) degradation and translocation mainly determine these dynamics in ornithogenic soil, in which podzolization is probably one of them. The purpose of the recent study is the description of SOM in relic ornithogenic soils of coastal continental Antarctica (Casey Station, Wilkes Land) in order to unravel the little knowledge of organic matter of these soils by means of wet chemical SOM analyses and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The intention is to compare these data with those obtained from spodic horizons formed under temperate climate conditions. This comparison should provide first information about the possible process of podzolization occurring in Antarctica. In contrast to the spodic horizons in Germany the SOM of the antarctic soils is characterized by a high percentage of amino derivates from proteins, polysaccharides, urates and chitin, resulting in a mean C-to-N ratio of 10 and a high content of carboxyl carbon units, which probably derived from amino and other organic acids. Within the solid state cross polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS) 13C-NMR of whole soil probably the high contents of pyrophosphate-soluble iron lead to NMR spectra with a low resolution. The 15N-NMR of penguin guano suggests no significant appearance of heterocyclic N-compounds. Concerning the podzolization process our data suggest the migration of organic acids, not-humified carbohydrates and N-containing moieties from the topsoil into the spodic horizons of the ornithogenic soils, whereas in the SOM of Podzols formed under temperate climate conditions N-compounds and not-humified carbohydrates were of minor importance within the SOM translocation processes.

Lothar Beyer 
Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 
University Kiel 
Olshausenstrasse 40 
D-24098 Kiel 
GERMANY 
49-431-880-3191 
49-431-880-2940 FAX 
E:mail: lbeyer@oeko-boden.bodenkunde.uni-kiel.de