Carbon dioxide soils

Using chemical equations, illustrate how soil carbon dioxide affects both the pH of soil and the ions present in the soil solution. 

The greater the amount of carbon dioxide in soil, the more hydronium ions and so the lower the pH. Soil that has a low pH is referred to as sour. (Recall from Chapter 10 that many acidic foods, such as lemon, are characteristically sour.) Two main sources of soil carbon dioxide are humus and plant roots. The humus releases carbon dioxide as it decays, and plant roots release carbon dioxide as a product of cellular respiration. A healthy soil may have enough carbon dioxide released from these processes to give a pH range from about 4 to 7- If the soil becomes too acidic, a weak base, such as calcium carbonate (known as lime or limestone), can be added. 

Because the bulk of the limestone volume of Bermuda has spent most of its existence in the vadose zone, much of the limestone mass shows the imprint of vadose diagenesis, and progressive depletion in 13C with increasing age. However, limestones older than 125,000 years have spent more time in the phreatic meteoric zone. These limestones are more extensively altered by freshwater and freshwater-seawater mixtures. Their relatively light 813C values, however, imply alteration in a relatively open system in which soil carbon dioxide, depleted in 13C because of oxidation of organic matter, was an important source of carbon for replacement reactions. 

Cerhng T. E., Solomon D. K., Quade J., and Bowman J. R. (1991) On the isotopic composition of carbon in soil carbon-dioxides. Geochim. Cosrnochim. Acta 55(11), 3403-3405. 

Brook G. A., Folkoff M. E., and Box E. O. (1983) A world model of soil carbon dioxide. Earth Surf. Process. Land-forms 8, 79-88. 

Davis, J., Amato, P. Kiefer, R. (2001) Soil carbon dioxide in a summer-dry subalpine karst, Marble Moutntains, California, USA. Zeitschrift fur Geomorpholo-... 

Environmental Soil Carbon dioxide+modifier Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides... 

An additional mole of ammonium sulfate per mole of final lactam is generated duting the manufacture of hydroxylamine sulfate [10039-54-0] via the Raschig process, which converts ammonia, air, water, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide to the hydroxylamine salt. Thus, a minimum of two moles of ammonium sulfate is produced per mole of lactam, but commercial processes can approach twice that amount. The DSM/Stamicarbon HPO process, which uses hydroxylamine phosphate [19098-16-9] ia a recycled phosphate buffer, can reduce the amount to less than two moles per mole of lactam. Ammonium sulfate is sold as a fertilizer. However, because H2SO4 is released and acidifies the soil as the salt decomposes, it is alow grade fertilizer, and contributes only marginally to the economics of the process (145,146) (see Caprolactam). 

Carbon. Most of the Earth s supply of carbon is stored in carbonate rocks in the Hthosphere. Normally the circulation rate for Hthospheric carbon is slow compared with that of carbon between the atmosphere and biosphere. The carbon cycle has received much attention in recent years as a result of research into the possible relation between increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, most of which is produced by combustion of fossil fuel, and the "greenhouse effect," or global warming. Extensive research has been done on the rate at which carbon dioxide might be converted to cellulose and other photosyntheticaHy produced organic compounds by various forms of natural and cultivated plants. Estimates also have been made of the rate at which carbon dioxide is released to soil under optimum conditions by various kinds of plant cover, such as temperature-zone deciduous forests, cultivated farm crops, prairie grassland, and desert vegetation. 

Surface oxidation short of combustion, or using nitric acid or potassium permanganate solutions, produces regenerated humic acids similar to those extracted from peat or soil. Further oxidation produces aromatic acids and oxaUc acid, but at least half of the carbon forms carbon dioxide. 

The main agents of these losses are the microbes and small animals, such as springtails and mites, that inhabit the soil. These feed on organic matter that contains carbon and nitrogen and produce carbon dioxide and ammonium ions as waste products. Other bacteria convert the ammonium to nitrate. Like most of us, these organisms are most active when the conditions suit them best, and their preferred options are warmth and moisture. In early autumn, the soil is still warm... 

Soil reaction (pH) The relationship between the environment and development of acid or alkaline conditions in soil has been discussed with respect to formation of soils from the parent rock materials. Soil acidity comes in part by the formation of carbonic acid from carbon dioxide of biological origin and water. Other acidic development may come from acid residues of weathering, shifts in mineral types, loss of alkaline or basic earth elements by leaching, formation of organic or inorganic acids by microbial activity, plant root secretions, and man-made pollution of the soil, especially by industrial wastes. 

Sulphates, silicates, carbonates, colloids and certain organic compounds act as inhibitors if evenly distributed, and sodium silicate has been used as such in certain media. Nitrates tend to promote corrosion, especially in acid soil waters, due to cathodic de-polarisation and to the formation of soluble nitrates. Alkaline soils can cause serious corrosion with the formation of alkali plumbites which decompose to give (red) lead monoxide. Organic acids and carbon dioxide from rotting vegetable matter or manure also have a strong corrosive action. This is probably the explanation of phenol corrosion , which is not caused by phenol, but thought to be caused by decomposition of jute or hessian in applied protective layers. ... 

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