Organic mater

The terms embalming and mummification are often employed as synonyms to refer to the deliberate preservation of corpses so that they keep, as much as possible, their lifelike appearance. To embalm or mummify a dead body is to preserve it by artificial, chemical means. Dehydratation, the removal of water, for example, provides suitable conditions for the preservation of organic mater in general and of corpses in particular many ancient corpses have been mummified by dehydration. In some ancient societies, after the corpse was dry it was impregnated or filled with aromatic substances, usually known as balms, such as molten resin, pitch, or tar, preventing it from becoming unsightly. 

Hsu JWP (2005) Soft lithography contacts to organics. Mater Today 8 42-54... 

Guo, L., Santschi, P.H., Cifuentes, L.A., Trumbore, S.E., and Southon, J. (1996) Cycling of high molecular-weight dissolved organic mater in the Middle Atlantic Bight as revealed by carbon isotopic (13C and 14C) signatures. Limnol. Oceanogr. 41, 1242-1252. 

The nutrient cycles of the forest catchment ecosystems are to a large extent determined by biota, especially by the primary production of plants and by microbial decomposition. Severe losses from the ecosystem of important nutrients, e.g., Ca, Mg, K and P, are expected to lower the productivity when occurring in the root zone. Most nutrients available for circulation in the temperate forested ecosystems are found in the tree layer or in the accumulated organic mater of soil layer. This is especially true for the most important macronutrients (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S). Nitrogen is... 

Henrichs S.M. (1992) Early diagenesis of organic mater in marine sediments progress and perplexity. Mar. Chem. 39, 119-49. 

Agren, G. I., Busatta, E. and Balesdent, 1. (1996). Isotope discrimination during decomposition of organic mater a theoretical analysis. Soil Sci. Am. 1.60, 1121-1126. 

Organic mater is a source (short-term and long-term storage) of nutrients for plants and soil microbes. Organic matter often has a negative charge associated with the humus layer that attracts cations (which can be used as nutrients), metals, and pesticides. 

In the long term, this kind of environmental pollution may turn out to be more serious than any other kind, with the possible exception of radioactive contamination, for organic mater, however noxious or stable, is eventually degraded by microbial action elements remain and their dispersion in the environment effects a permanent alteration in the composition of the biosphere. 

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