Abstract
The cation exchange behavior of acid, high organic matter (OM) forest soils has been little studied. We measured cation exchange capacities (CEC) and exchangeable cations in fresh, field-moist samples from soil horizons of a forested mountain watershed in north central Vermont. CEC, measured by compulsive exchange on 148 horizon samples, ranged between 0.07 and 84.3 cmolc kg−1. Below pH 5.3, the CEC was linearly correlated with OM and was independent of pH. The amount of ‘permanent’ charge associated with the OM was about 30 cmolc kg−1. However, individual horizons exhibited pH-dependent charge behavior if the pH was adjusted during CEC measurement.
Exchangeable H, measured either directly or by the difference between the CEC and exchangeable cations, was found to be as high as 9 cmolc kg−1 in low pH Oa horizons. There was a linear relationship between pH and exchangeable H in these horizons. ‘Exchangeable’ Al, expressed as Al3+, often was higher than the measured CEC in spodic horizons. In all horizons, the ratio of Al to the CEC was highest at about pH 4.5, decreasing towards the extremes in pH. In a subset of Oa and A horizons, the amounts of Al extracted by 0.1 M BaCl2, 0.2 M NH4-oxalate, 0.1 M Na4P2O7, and 0.5 M CuCl2 were well correlated with each other. The amounts of Fe in these extracts also were well correlated with each other. Total acid-digestable Al in the highest OM horizons was less than the CEC.
The relationships found among CEC, pH, and Al, in these very acid, high OM Spodosols suggest that our understanding of the chemical behavior of acid soils is far from complete.
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Ross, D.S., Bartlett, R.J., Magdoff, F.R. (1991). Exchangeable cations and the pH-independent distribution of cation exchange capacities in Spodosols of a forested watershed. In: Wright, R.J., Baligar, V.C., Murrmann, R.P. (eds) Plant-Soil Interactions at Low pH. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3438-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3438-5_9
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