Soil laboratory

The laboratory deals with the chemical and physical investigation of soil, water and plant materials.  The samples to be processed here come, for example, from research projects in the Spreewald, the Lower Havel or Mongolia.

During their studies of geoecology, the students carry out internships in the laboratory. In addition, students from various faculties work on their final theses in the laboratory. Close cooperation takes place with the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry and Didactics of Chemistry and the Institute for Ecology and Nature Conservation at the University of Potsdam.

The following investigations are among others carried out:

• Grain size determination of soils
• Measurement of pH values
• Determination of soil organic matter
• Analysis of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus in soils
• Determination of cation exchange capacity
• Investigation of density and volume ratios
• Determination of anions in waters or soil eluates

Laboratory equipment

• Screening machine for dry screenings
• Screening machine for wet screenings
• ball mill
• Heavy metal digestion apparatus
• laser diffractometer
• fluid circulation system
• UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer
• Anion and cation chromatograph
• CN analyzer
• Soil physical measuring station
• muffle furnace
• kf determination system
• ku-pF determination system
• pF Pressure pots 5 bar and 15 bar
• aggregate stability