Soil
Chemistry
Engr. Cedie Macalisang and Engr.
Gil Stefan S. Mamaril, M.Sc.
Enumerate Enumerate the chemical composition of soil
Discuss Discuss the concept soil particle surface charge
Topic
Explain the importance of exchangeable ions in
Learning Explain
soil matrix
Outcomes
Explain Explain the importance of pH in soil
Classify the type of soil based on the USDA Soil
Classify
Triangle
Soil
• Soil are porous media created at the land surface
through weathering process mediated by
biological, geological, and hydrological
phenomena.
• Soil exchange both matter and energy with the
surrounding atmosphere, hydrosphere, and
biosphere
Chemical Composition
• Major elements that can be found in soil are O, Si,
Al, Fe, C, K, Ca, Na, Mg, Ti, N, S, Ba, Mn, P and
some Sr and Zr.
• The major elements C, N, P, and S also are
macronutrients. They are essential to the life
cycles of organisms and absorbed by them in
significant amounts.
Approximate Elemental Composition of
Earth's Surface
2%
2%
4%
5%
1%
3%
Chemical 8% 47%
Composition
28%
O Si Al Fe Ca Na K Mg Ti, P, Mn, S, Cl, C
Soil Mineral
• Ionic Solids
• Primary Silicates – appear in soils as a result of
deposition processes and from the physical
disintegration of parent rock material. They are to be
found mainly in the sand and silt fractions.
• Clay Minerals – layer-type aluminosilicates that
predominate in the clay fractions of soil at the
intermediate to advanced stages of weathering.
Soil Mineral
• Metal Oxides, Oxyhydroxides, and Hydroxides –
aluminum, iron, manganese, and titanium form the
important oxide, oxyhydroxide, and hydroxide
minerals in soil.
• Carbonates and Sulfates – calcite, dolomite, trona,
soda, etc
• Organic Matter – plant materials
Soil minerals contribute to the control of adsorption,
transformation, and release of vital nutrients.
• Humus is an organic material that forms in soil
when plant and animal matter decays.
Soil Humus • Humification – transformation of plant,
microbial, and animal litter into humus
Solid Particle Surface Charge
• Solid particle surfaces in soils develop an electrical
charge in two principal ways:
• either from isomorphic substitutions in soil
minerals among ions of differing valence
• reactions of surface functional groups with ions
in the soil solution.
• The electrical charge developed by these two
mechanisms is expressed conventionally in moles of
charge per kilogram
Soil Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)
CEC measures the ability of the soil to hold, retain, or supply nutrients
𝐂𝐄𝐂 = 𝑰𝒃 𝒊 + 𝑰𝒂
𝐈𝐛𝐢 σ 𝐈𝐛𝐢
𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 % = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎% ; 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 % = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝐂𝐄𝐂 𝐂𝐄𝐂
• Unit of CEC can be meq/100 g soil or cmolc / kg soil.
• 𝑰𝒃 is any base cation present in the soil (e.g. Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+) and 𝐼𝑎 is the total acidic
cation (e.g. H+, Al+3, NH4+)
𝑚𝑒𝑞 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐
1 =1
100 𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙
Derivation of formula for Ib
𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝑚𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 1 𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 100 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐
𝐼𝑏 =
𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 1000 𝑚𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛
Remember in soil composition mg/kg is ppm
𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐
𝐼𝑏
𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙
1 𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 100 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐
= 𝑝𝑝𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙
1000 𝑚𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛
Simplify the equation…
Derivation of formula for Ib
𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝑚𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 1 𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 100 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐
𝐼𝑏 =
𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 1000 𝑚𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑔 𝑖𝑜𝑛 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑖𝑜𝑛
Simplify….
𝒎𝒈
𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄 𝒑𝒑𝒎 𝒐𝒓 (𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒐𝒏)
𝒌𝒈
𝑰𝒃 =
𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍 (𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔)(𝟏𝟎)
Example 1
Calculate the CEC, base saturation, and calcium saturation of a soil containing calcium,
magnesium, sodium, and potassium whose concentrations are 2000, 240, 100, and 20
ppm, respectively. The acidic cation from various acidic compounds is measured to be 4.8
cmolc / kg.
Molar mass: Ca+2 = 40 g/mol ; Mg+2 = 24.3 g/mol ; Na+ = 23 g/mol ; K+ = 39 g/mol
Solution: Calculate the Ib for Ca, Mg, Na, and K using their respective concentrations.
𝑚𝑔
𝑝𝑝𝑚 𝑜𝑟 (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛) (2000)(2) 𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄 𝑪𝒂+𝟐
𝑘𝑔
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 = = = 𝟏𝟎
(𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠)(10) (40)(10) 𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍
Example 1
𝑚𝑔
𝑝𝑝𝑚 𝑜𝑟 (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛) (240)(2) 𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄 𝑴𝒈+𝟐
𝑘𝑔
𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 = = = 𝟏. 𝟗𝟕𝟓
(𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠)(10) (24.3)(10) 𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍
𝑚𝑔
𝑝𝑝𝑚 𝑜𝑟 (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛) (100)(1) 𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄 𝑵𝒂+
𝑘𝑔
𝐼𝑁𝑎+ = = = 𝟎. 𝟒𝟑𝟓
(𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠)(10) (23)(10) 𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍
𝑚𝑔
𝑝𝑝𝑚 𝑜𝑟 (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛) (20)(1) 𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄 𝑲+
𝑘𝑔
𝐼𝐾 + = = = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓𝟏
(𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠)(10) (39)(10) 𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍
𝐼𝑏 = 𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 + 𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 + 𝐼𝑁𝑎+ + 𝐼𝐾+ Example 1
cmolc / kg soil
𝐶𝐸𝐶 = 𝐼𝑏 + 𝐼𝑎 𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 10
𝐶𝐸𝐶 = 12.461 + 4.8 𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 1.975
𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄 𝐼𝑁𝑎+ 0.435
𝑪𝑬𝑪 = 𝟏𝟕. 𝟐𝟔𝟏
𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍 𝐼𝐾 + 0.051
σ 𝐼𝑏 𝐼𝑏 12.461
𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100
𝐶𝐸𝐶
12.461
𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100 𝐼𝑎 4.8
17.261
𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏% = 𝟕𝟐. 𝟏𝟗%
cmolc / kg soil
Example 1 𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 10
𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 1.975
𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄
𝑪𝑬𝑪 = 𝟏𝟕. 𝟐𝟔𝟏 𝐼𝑁𝑎+
𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍 0.435
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 𝐼𝐾 + 0.051
𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100
𝐶𝐸𝐶
𝐼𝑏 12.461
10
𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100
17.261
𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝑺𝒂𝒕% = 𝟓𝟕. 𝟗𝟑% 𝐼𝑎 4.8
Using the data in the table below. Calculate the CEC and
calcium saturation of given soil sample. Example 2
Molar mass: Ca+2 = 40 g/mol ; Mg+2 = 24.3 g/mol ; Na+ = 23
g/mol ; K+ = 39 g/mol
Use these formulas: Ca+2 5200 mg/kg soil
𝑚𝑔
𝑝𝑝𝑚 𝑜𝑟 (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑜𝑛) Mg+2 1185 mg/kg soil
𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝑘𝑔
𝐼𝑏 =
𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 (𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠)(10)
Na+ 1265 mg/kg soil
𝐼𝑏 = 𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 + 𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 + 𝐼𝑁𝑎+ + 𝐼𝐾+
K+ 600 mg/kg soil
𝐶𝐸𝐶 = 𝐼𝑏 + 𝐼𝑎 Exchangeable 13.5 cmolc / kg soil
Acidity (Σ Ia)
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2
𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100
𝐶𝐸𝐶
(5200)(2) (1265)(1)
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 = 𝐼𝑁𝑎+ =
(40)(10) (23)(10)
𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝐶𝑎+2 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝑁𝑎+
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 = 26 𝐼𝑁𝑎+ = 5.5
𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙
Example 2
(1185)(2) (600)(1)
𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 = 𝐼𝐾 + =
(24.3)(10) (39)(10)
𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝑀𝑔+2 𝑐𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑐 𝐾 +
𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 = 9.753 𝐼𝐾+ = 1.538
𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑘𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙
Example 2
𝐶𝐸𝐶 = 𝐼𝑏 + 𝐼𝑎
cmolc / kg soil 𝐶𝐸𝐶 = 42.791 + 13.5
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2 26 𝒄𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒄
𝑪𝑬𝑪 = 𝟓𝟔. 𝟐𝟗𝟏
𝐼𝑀𝑔+2 9.753 𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍
𝐼𝑁𝑎+ 5.5
𝐼𝐶𝑎+2
𝐼𝐾 + 1.538 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100
𝐶𝐸𝐶
𝐼𝑏 42.791
26
𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑡% = × 100
56.291
𝐼𝑎 13.5
𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝑺𝒂𝒕% = 𝟒𝟔. 𝟏𝟗%
• The combination of complex compounds in
soil contribute to its pH
• Contains both H+ and OH-
Soil pH • High H+; slightly acidic
• High OH-; slightly basic
• High rainfall pH range: 5 – 7
• Dry region pH range: 6.5 - 9
Acid Soil – Al and H dominated (pH < 7.0)
Neutral Soil – equal mix of acid and alkaline (pH =
Soil and 7.0)
pH Calcareous Soil – Ca dominated (pH 7.1 to 8.2)
Sodic Soil – Sodium dominated (free salts)
Soil Triangle
• It can determine the type of soil using
the percentages of clay, sand, and silt
• Example
1. 40% silt, 10% clay, 50% sand = Loam
2. 10% silt, 60% clay, 30% sand = Clay
3. 60% silt, 25% clay, 15% sand = ?
4. 25% silt, 35% clay, 40% sand = ?
5. 20% silt, 10% clay, 70% sand = ?
Image from SERC Carleton College
https://serc.carleton.edu
Questions???
References
• Bleam, W.F. (2017). Soil and Environmental
Chemistry. Academic Press
• Tan, K.H. (2014). Principles of Soil Chemistry,
Fourth Edition. CRC Press
• Sposito, Garrison (2008). The Chemistry of
Soils, 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press
Thank You!
