Soil organic matter

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Soil organic matter (SOM) is all organic compounds within the soil without living roots and animals. It consists of several parts for which definitions are often inconsistently used. One part is the biomass of living microorganisms (bacteria), another one partly decomposed or fresh but dead parts of plants and animals. Furthermore SOM consists of strongly decomposed but stable organic compounds, also referred to as humus. Some authors refer to humus differently as the total amount of organic compounds.

SOM contains carbon in varying amounts, but in general samples containing levels of 50% carbon or greater are referred to as soil organic carbon (SOC).

Some authors define SOM differently, including living compounds like roots.