Elemental composition of reference European volcanic soils

Abstract

The content and distribution of elements in soils depend on a number of factors: (1) the nature of the parent material from which they develop, (2) the weathering processes dominating in the soil environment, (3) biocycling, (4) additions via atmospheric deposition due to natural sources and (5) human activity. The importance of each of these main factors depends on the degree of soil evolution-in weakly evolved soils the imprint of the parent material is more important than in strongly evolved ones-and the mobility of the specific element in the soil environment. But it also depends on external factors (land use, vegetation, proximity to pollution sources). Human activity may have direct impacts, such as fertilization, or indirect ones such as atmospheric pollution. The elemental composition of soils is of great interest for pedogenetic interpretation since it provides a good way to decipher the relevance of each of the main factors affecting soil evolution; but it is also important in soil fertility, acidity neutralization, weathering, and clay mineralogy. As Kurtz et al. (2000) have stated, weathering profiles are complex open geochemical systems that, stripped to their essence are chromatographic columns. Studies on the elemental composition of volcanic soils are particularly scarce (Laurelle and Stoops 1967, Kobayashi 1979, Rahman et al. 1996, Fujikawa et al. 2000, Palumbo et al. 2000, Meijer and Buurman 2003). In this chapter we describe the results of the analysis of 26 elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Rb, Br, Sr, Y, Zr, Hg, Pb, Th, and U) in the fine earth fraction (<2 mm) of the soils. The main objectives are: (1) to provide a data base of some major and trace elements in volcanic soils from different European countries, (2) to describe their vertical distribution and (3) to relate it to the main factors affecting element concentrations. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.