Soil And Water Chemistry: Principles, Properties And Applications

Description

Soil chemistry is the study of the chemical characteristics of soil. Soil chemistry is affected by mineral composition, organic matter and environmental factors. Until the late 1960s, soil chemistry focused primarily on chemical reactions in the soil that contribute to pedogenesis or that affect plant growth. Since then, concerns have grown about environmental pollution, organic and inorganic soil contamination and potential ecological health and environmental health risks. Consequently, the emphasis in soil chemistry has shifted from paedology and agricultural soil science to an emphasis on environmental soil science. It is important to distinguish between description and classification of soil. Description of soil is a statement describing the physical nature and state of the soil whereas classification is the separation of soil into classes or groups.
Water plays an important role as a chemical substance. Its many important functions include being a good solvent for dissolving many solids, serving as an excellent coolant both mechanically and biologically and acting as a reactant in many chemical reactions. The chemical aspects of water i.e. the physical, mathematical and biological aspects are also explored in the text.
The book explores topics such as maintaining soil fertility under an organic management, solid supports for the synthesis of peptides, environmental soil and water chemistry, water quality standards and classifications, methods of water treatment, etc.