Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Volume 48, Issue 12, Pages 6678-6686Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/es405485a
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Funding
- National Science Foundatio [EAR 0724971]
- NSF
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- National Research Council of Canada
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Province of Saskatchewan
- Western Economic Diversification Canada
- University of Saskatchewan
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Earth Sciences [1331856] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Office of Integrative Activities
- Office Of The Director [1301765] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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There is a growing acceptance that associations with soil minerals may be the most important overarching stabilization mechanism for soil organic matter. However, direct investigation of organo-mineral associations has been hampered by a lack of methods that can simultaneously characterize organic matter (OM) and soil minerals. In this study, STXM-NEXAFS spectroscopy at the C 1s, Ca 2p, Fe 2p, Al is, and Si 1s edges was used to investigate C associations with Ca, Fe, Al, and Si species in soil clay fractions from an upland pasture hillslope. Bulk techniques including C and N NEXAFS, Fe K-edge EXAFS spectroscopy, and XRD were applied to provide additional information. Results demonstrated that C was associated with Ca, Fe, Al, and Si with no separate phase in soil clay particles. In soil clay particles, the pervasive C forms were aromatic C, carboxyl C, and polysaccharides with the relative abundance of carboxyl C and polysaccharides varying spatially at the submicrometer scale. Only limited regions in the soil clay particles had aliphatic C. Good C-Ca spatial correlations were found for soil clay particles with no CaCO3, suggesting a strong role of Ca in organo-mineral assemblage formation. Fe EXAFS showed that about 50% of the total Fe in soils was contained in Fe oxides, whereas Fe-bearing aluminosilicates (vermiculite and Illite) accounted for another 50%. Fe oxides in the soil were mainly crystalline goethite and hematite, with lesser amounts of poorly crystalline ferrihydrite. XRD revealed that soil clay aluminosilicates were hydroxy-interlayered vermiculite, Illite, and kaolinite. C showed similar correlation with Fe to Al and Si, implying a similar association of Fe oxides and aluminosilicates with organic matter in organo-mineral associations. These direct microscopic determinations can help improve understanding of organo-mineral interactions in soils.
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