wAbstract
@A number of previous studies have reported the existence of a
minimum in phosphate solubility between pH 5.5 and 7 in non-calcareous
soils. Different hypotheses have been forwarded to explain this
phenomenon. In this study, ten soil samples with varying textures
and phosphorus status were subjected to batch experiments in which
dissolved phosphate was measured as a function of pH and phosphate
load. Soil samples with more than 20 clay all had a minimum phosphate
solubility between pH 6 and 7, whereas for samples with 10 clay,
no such minimum was observed. Further experiments involving additions
of phosphate and arsenate showed an increasing adsorption of these
anions with decreasing pH also below pH 6 in clay soils, suggesting
that the pH dependence on adsorption and desorption in short-term
experiments was not the same. Kinetic experiments showed that
the increased phosphate desorption at lower pH values in non-calcareous
clay soils was a quick process, which is consistent with adsorption/desorption
being the most important mechanism governing the retention and
release of inorganic P. Moreover, by comparing extraction results
with batch experiment results for samples from a long-term fertility
experiment, it was concluded that more than 60 of the accumulated
phosphate was occluded, i.e. not reactive within 6 days. Additional
evidence for an important role of occluded phosphate comes from
an analysis of the Freundlich sorption isotherms for the studied
soils. It is hypothesized that interlayered hydroxy-al and hydroxy-Fe
polymers in clay minerals may be important for P dynamics in clay
soils by trapping some of the P in an occluded form. The results
also suggest that improved knowledge on the speciation and dynamics
of phosphorus in soils is required for consistent mechanistically
based modeling of phosphate sorption/desorption reactions.
Keywords: Phosphate; Arsenate; Desorption; Fertility experiment;
Clay soils; Sorptionx
1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
@2.1. Soils
@2.2. Batch experiments
@2.3. Speciation modeling
@2.4. Freundlich sorption modeling
3. Results
@3.1. pH dependence of PO4-P solubility
@3.2. Fertilization effect on pH-dependent PO4-P
sorption and desorption
@3.3. Results from Freundlich sorption modeling
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Appendix A. Supplementary data
References