Environmental Chemistry of Soils

Abstract

This introduction to modern soil chemistry describes chemical processes in soils in terms of established principles of inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry. The text provides an understanding of the structure of the solid mineral and organic materials from which soils are formed, and explains such important processes as cation exchange, chemisorption and physical absorption of organic and inorganic ions and molecules, soil acidification and weathering, oxidation-reduction reactions, and development of soil alkalinity and swelling properties. Environmental rather than agricultural topics are emphasized, with individual chapters on such pollutants as heavy metals, trace elements, and inorganic chemicals.