Das Projekt "Climo- and chronosequences of soils and landscape evolution in the Etna region (Sicily)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Zürich, Geographisches Institut durchgeführt. The soil state factors climate and time are of growing interest in respect to landscape and consequently soil evolution. Climate change can have significant impact on the global biogeochemical cycle by altering the type and rate of soil processes and the resulting soil properties. Direct and dramatic ecological responses to this impending warming are expected. Climatic warming is thought to increase soil temperature and to change many critical factors in plant productivity, phenology and succession. A main unknown parametre is the reactivity of soils and the rate of reactions. - Consequently, a soil sequence along an elevational gradient ranging from subtropical to subalpine climate zones in the Etna region (Sicily, southern Italy) are investigated in respect of organic C, kaolinite and crystalline to non-crystalline Al- and Fe-phases. Special emphasis is given to the stabilization of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its interaction with the inorganic phases. Furthermore, a weathering sequence with soils developing on volcanic, trachy-basaltic parent materials with ages ranging from 100 - 115000 years in the Etna region serve as the basis to analyse and calculate the accumulation and stabilisation mechanisms of soil organic matter (SOM), the transformation of pedogenic Fe and Al, the formation and transformation of clay minerals, the weathering indices and, by means of mass-balance calculations, net losses of the main elements.