Clays Are Not Created Equal: How Clay Mineral Type Affects Soil Parameterization

Clay minerals dominate the soil colloidal fraction and its specific surface area. Differences among clay mineral types significantly influence their effects on hydrological mechanical behavior. Presently, content is used to parameterize hydraulic properties (SHMP) for land models while disregarding type of mineral. This undifferentiated use leads inconsistent parameterization, particularly between tropical temperate soils, as shown herein. We capitalize recent global maps that exhibit strong climatic spatial segregation active inactive clays consider spatially resolved in SHMP estimation. mineral-informed pedotransfer functions machine learning algorithms trained with datasets including different structure formation processes improve representation regionally broad implications geomechanical Earth processes.