Sulfate retention and release in soils at Panola Mountain, Georgia

J. B. Shanley

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70016957

Sulfate retention and release in soils at Panola Mountain, Georgia

J. B. Shanley

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Inorganic sulfate pools, sulfate sorption characteristics, and Fe and Al fractions were determined on soils at Panola Mountain, a 41-ha forested watershed in the Georgia Piedmont. Sulfate sorption properties of these soils fall along a continuum between two end members. The "low-adsorbing' end member comprises shallow soils (0-10 cm), with high water-soluble sulfate (Sw), low phosphate-extractable sulfate (Sp-w), high organic matter, low sulfate retention ability, and high sulfate adsorption reversibility. The "high-adsorbing' end member comprises deeper soils (>10 cm), with higher total native sulfate (mostly as Sp-w), low organic matter, high sulfate retention ability, and low sulfate adsorption reversibility. Sulfate retention was only weakly related to Fe and Al fractions, possibly because of inhibition of adsorption by organic matter. Sulfate concentrations in surface waters reflect the spatial distribution of soil sulfate retention properties. -from Author

Explore related subjects

Soil Science Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

J. B. Shanley. 1992. Sulfate retention and release in soils at Panola Mountain, Georgia. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70016957

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2015

Ahead of his time: Jacob Lipman's 1930 estimate of atmospheric sulfur deposition for the conterminous United States

A 1936 New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin provided an early quantitative assessment of atmospheric deposition of sulfur for the United States that has been compared in this study with more recent assessments. In the early 20th century, anthropogenic sulfur additions from the atmosphere to the soil by the combustion of fossil fuels were viewed as part of the requisite nutrient supply of crops. Jacob G. Lipman, the founding editor of Soil Science, and his team at Rutgers University, made an inventory of such additions to soils of the conterminous United States during the economic depression of the 1930s as part of a federally funded project looking at nutrient balances in soils. Lipman's team gathered data compiled by the US Bureau of Mines on coal and other fuel consumption by state and calculated the corresponding amounts of sulfur emitted. Their work pioneered a method of assessment that became the norm in the 1970s to 1980s—when acid rain emerged as a national issue. Lipman's estimate of atmospheric sulfur deposition in the 1930 is in reasonable agreement with recent historic reconstructions.

Soil Science↗

USGS2013

Contribution of calcium oxalate to soil-exchangeable calcium

Acid deposition and repeated biomass harvest have decreased soil calcium (Ca) availability in many temperate forests worldwide, yet existing methods for assessing available soil Ca do not fully characterize soil Ca forms. To account for discrepancies in ecosystem Ca budgets, it has been hypothesized that the highly insoluble biomineral Ca oxalate might represent an additional soil Ca pool that is not detected in standard measures of soil-exchangeable Ca. We asked whether several standard method extractants for soil-exchangeable Ca could also access Ca held in Ca oxalate crystals using spike recovery tests in both pure solutions and soil extractions. In solutions of the extractants ammonium chloride, ammonium acetate, and barium chloride, we observed 2% to 104% dissolution of Ca oxalate crystals, with dissolution increasing with both solution molarity and ionic potential of cation extractant. In spike recovery tests using a low-Ca soil, we estimate that 1 M ammonium acetate extraction dissolved sufficient Ca oxalate to contribute an additional 52% to standard measurements of soil-exchangeable Ca. However, in a high-Ca soil, the amount of Ca oxalate spike that would dissolve in 1 M ammonium acetate extraction was difficult to detect against the large pool of exchangeable Ca. We conclude that Ca oxalate can contribute substantially to standard estimates of soil-exchangeable Ca in acid forest soils with low soil-exchangeable Ca. Consequently, measures of exchangeable Ca are unlikely to fully resolve discrepancies in ecosystem Ca mass balance unless the contribution of Ca oxalate to exchangeable Ca is also assessed.

Soil Science↗

USGS2011

Performance of ground-penetrating radar on granitic regoliths with different mineral composition

Although ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is extensively used to characterize the regolith, few studies have addressed the effects of chemical and mineralogical compositions of soils and bedrock on its performance. This investigation evaluated the performance of GPR on two different granitic regoliths of somewhat different mineralogical composition in the San Jacinto Mountains of southern California. Radar records collected at a site where soils are Alfisols were more depth restricted than the radar record obtained at a site where soils are Entisols. Although the Alfisols contain an argillic horizon, and the Entisols have no such horizon of clay accumulation, the main impact on GPR effectiveness is related to mineralogy. The bedrock at the Alfisol site, which contains more mafic minerals (5% hornblende and 20% biotite), is more attenuating to GPR than the bedrock at the Entisol site, where mafic mineral content is less (<1% hornblende and 10% biotite). Thus, a relatively minor variation in bedrock mineralogy, specifically the increased biotite content, severely restricts the performance of GPR. Copyright ?? 2011 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Soil Science↗