Soil organic carbon cycling depends on the presence and catalytic functionality of extracellular proteins. The mineral matrix has the capacity to enhance, maintain or impede this functionality through a variety of mechanisms. The goal of this research was to identify some of the mechanisms involved in determining the role of the mineral matrix towards proteins. To this end, we adsorbed Beta-Glucosidase (BG) and Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) on the phyllosilicate kaolinite and the manganese oxide acid birnessite at pH 5 and pH 7. The protein-mineral samples were then subjected to gradual energy inputs equivalent to an intense forest fire using a laser and the abundance and molecular masses of desorbed organic compounds were recorded after ionization with tunable synchrotron ultravacuum vacuum ultraviolet radiation (VUV). We found that the mechanisms controlling the fate of proteins varied with mineralogy. Kaolinite adsorbed protein largely through hydrophobic interactions and produced negligible amounts of desorption fragments compared to birnessite, even at energy inputs equivalent to an intense forest fire. Acid birnessite adsorbed protein through coulombic forces at low energy levels, became a hydrolyzing catalyst at low energies and low pH and eventually turned into a reactant involving disintegration of both mineral and protein at higher energy inputs. Fragmentation of proteins was energy dependent, and did not occur below an energy threshold of 0.20 MW cm -2 . Neither signal abundance nor signal intensity were a function of protein size. Above the energy threshold value, BG adsorbed to birnessite at pH 7 showed an increase in signal abundance with increasing energy applications.. Signal intensities differed with adsorption pH for BSA but only at the highest energy level applied. Our results indicate that proteins adsorbed to kaolinite are likely to remain intact