Химические характеристики и состав почвы

Study of chemical characteristics of soil
Soil chemistry is the study of the chemical characteristics of soil. Soil chemistry is affected by mineral composition, organic matter and environmental factors. In the early 1870s a consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society in England, named J. Thomas Way, performed many experiments on how soils exchange ions, and is considered the father of soil chemistry. Other scientists who contributed to this branch of ecology include Edmund Ruffin, and Linus Pauling.

The interactions of the soil's micropores and macropores are important to soil chemistry, as they allow for the provision of water and gaseous elements to the soil and the surrounding atmosphere. Macropores help transport molecules and substances in and out of the micropores. Micropores are comprised within the aggregates themselves.

Water is essential for organisms within the soil profile, and it partially fills up the macropores in an ideal soil. Leaching of the soil occurs as water carries along with it ions deeper into the lower soil horizons, causing the soil to become more oxidized in other soil horizons. Water also will go from a higher water potential to a lower water potential, this can result in capillarity activity and gravitational force occurring with the water due to adhesion of the water to the soil surface and cohesion amongst the water molecules.

The atmosphere contains three main gases, namely oxygen, carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen. In the atmosphere, oxygen is 20%, nitrogen is 79% and CO2 is 0.15% to 0.65% by volume. CO2 increases with the increase in the depth of soil because of decomposition of accumulated organic matter and abundance of plant roots. The presence of oxygen in the soil is important because it helps in breaking down insoluble rocky mass into soluble minerals and organic humification. Air in the soil is composed of gases that are present in the atmosphere, but not in the same proportions. These gases facilitate chemical reactions in microorganisms. Accumulation of soluble nutrients in the soil makes it more productive. If the soil is deficient in oxygen, microbial activity is slowed down or eliminated. Important factors controlling the soil atmosphere are temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind/aeration and rainfall.

Soil texture influences the soil chemistry pertaining to the soil's ability to maintain its structure, the restriction of water flow and the contents of the particles in the soil. Soil texture considers all particle types and a soil texture triangle is a chart that can be used to calculate the percentages of each particle type adding up to total 100% for the soil profile. These soil separates differ not only in their sizes but also in their bearing on some of the important factors affecting plant growth such as soil aeration, work ability, movement and availability of water and nutrients.

Sand particles range in size (about 0.05–2 mm). Sand is the most coarse of the particle groups. Sand has the largest pores and soil particles of the particle groups. It also drains the most easily. These particles become more involved in chemical reactions when coated with clay.

Silt particles range in size (about 0.002–0.5 mm). Silt pores are considered a medium in size compared with the other particle groups. Silt has a texture consistency of flour. Silt particles allow water and air to pass readily, yet retain moisture for crop growth. Silty soil contains sufficient quantities of nutrients, both organic and inorganic.

Clay has particles smallest in size (about <0.002 mm) of the particle groups. Clay also has the smallest pores which give it a greater porosity, and it does not drain well. Clay has a sticky texture when wet. Some kinds can grow and dissipate, or in other words shrink and swell.

Loam is a combination of sand, silt and clay that encompasses soils. It can be named based on the primary particles in the soil composition, ex. sandy loam, clay loam, silt loam, etc.

Biota are organisms that, along with organic matter, help comprise the biological system of the soil. The vast majority of biological activity takes place near the soil surface, usually in the A horizon of a soil profile. Biota rely on inputs of organic matter in order to sustain themselves and increase population sizes. In return, they contribute nutrients to the soil, typically after it has been cycled in the soil trophic food web. With the many different interactions that take place, biota can largely impact their environment physically, chemically, and biologically (Pavao Zuckerman, 2008). A prominent factor that helps to provide some degree of stability with these interactions is biodiversity, a key component of all ecological communities. Biodiversity allows for a consistent flow of energy through trophic levels and strongly influences the structure of ecological communities in the soil.

Many plant nutrients in soil undergo biogeochemical cycles throughout their environment. These cycles are influenced by water, gas exchange, biological activity, immobilization, and mineralization dynamics, but each element has its own course of flow (Deemy et al., 2022). For example, nitrogen moves from an isolated gaseous form to the compounds nitrate and nitrite as it moves through soil and becomes available to plants. In comparison, an element like phosphorus transfers in mineral form, as it is contained in rock material. These cycles also greatly vary in mobility, solubility, and the rate at which they move through their natural cycles. Together, they drive all of the processes of soil chemistry.

New knowledge about the chemistry of soils often comes from studies in the laboratory, in which soil samples taken from undisturbed soil horizons in the field are used in experiments that include replicated treatments and controls. In many cases, the soil samples are air dried at ambient temperatures (e. g., 25 °C (77 °F)) and sieved to a 2 mm size prior to storage for further study. Such drying and sieving soil samples markedly disrupts soil structure, microbial population diversity, and chemical properties related to pH, oxidation reduction status, manganese oxidation state, and dissolved organic matter; among other properties. Renewed interest in recent decades has led many soil chemists to maintain soil samples in a field moist condition and stored at 4 °C (39 °F) under aerobic conditions before and during investigations. Two approaches are frequently used in laboratory investigations in soil chemistry. The first is known as batch equilibration. The chemist adds a given volume of water or salt solution of known concentration of dissolved ions to a mass of soil (e. g., 25–mL of solution to 5–g of soil in a centrifuge tube or flask). The soil slurry then is shaken or swirled for a given amount of time (e. g., 15 minutes to many hours) to establish a steady state or equilibrium condition prior to filtering or centrifuging at high speed to separate sand grains, silt particles, and clay colloids from the equilibrated solution. The filtrate or centrifugate then is analyzed using one of several methods, including ion specific electrodes, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, ion chromatography, and colorimetric methods. In each case, the analysis quantifies the concentration or activity of an ion or molecule in the solution phase, and by multiplying the measured concentration or activity (e. g., in mg ion/mL) by the solution to soil ratio (mL of extraction solution/g soil), the chemist obtains the result in mg ion/g soil. This result based on the mass of soil allows comparisons between different soils and treatments. A related approach uses a known volume to solution to leach (infiltrate) the extracting solution through a quantity of soil in small columns at a controlled rate to simulate how rain, snow meltwater, and irrigation water pass through soils in the field. The filtrate then is analyzed using the same methods as used in batch equilibrations. Another approach to quantifying soil processes and phenomena uses in situ methods that do not disrupt the soil. as occurs when the soil is shaken or leached with an extracting soil solution. These methods usually use surface spectroscopic techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and X ray spectroscopy. These approaches aim to obtain information on the chemical nature of the mineralogy and chemistry of particle and colloid surfaces, and how ions and molecules are associated with such surfaces by adsorption, complexation, and precipitation. These laboratory experiments and analyses have an advantage over field studies in that chemical mechanisms on how ions and molecules react in soils can be inferred from the data. One can draw conclusions or frame new hypotheses on similar reactions in different soils with diverse textures, organic matter contents, types of clay minerals and oxides, pH, and drainage condition. Laboratory studies have the disadvantage that they lose some of the realism and heterogeneity of undisturbed soil in the field, while gaining control and the power of extrapolation to unstudied soil. Mechanistic laboratory studies combined with more realistic, less controlled, observational field studies often yield accurate approximations of the behavior and chemistry of the soils that may be spatially heterogeneous and temporally variable. Another challenge faced by soil chemists is how microbial populations and enzyme activity in field soils may be changed when the soil is disturbed, both in the field and laboratory, particularly when soils samples are dried prior to laboratory studies and analysis.