Soil organic carbon mineralization kinetics

The degree of reversibility can depend on the amount of time that the pollutant has been in contact with the solid. Sorption onto iron hydroxides, organic matter and metal carbonate minerals is often observed to be irreversible over time spans exceeding years (Brady etal. 1999). Immobilization reactions are indicated by slow reaction kinetics as found, for example, for the binding of nickel, zinc, and cadmium to different soil constituents which (Gerth 1985). When in contact with iron oxides, these elements are immobilized by matrix diffusion (Briimmer etal. 1988 Gerth etal. 1993). 

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