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FALL 07 ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL CHEMISTRY |
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Instructor: Matthew J. Eick
236 Smyth Hall, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-8943.
ENSC 4724 Pages
Information
Page
Syllabus
Definitions
Problem
Sets
Miscellaneous
Assignments
Lecture
Notes
Soil Chemistry
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Interactive Tutorials
Clay
Mineral 3D Models
Primary
mineral 3D Models
CEC
demonstration
CATALOG DESCRIPTION
Chemistry of inorganic and organic soil components with emphasis on environmental significance of soil solution-solid phase equilibria, sorption phenomena, ion exchange processes, reaction kinetics, redox reactions, and acidity processes. Pre: CSES 3114, CSES 3124, CHEM 2514 or CHEM 2535, CHEM 3114 and MATH 2015; (3H,3C). I.COURSE OVERVIEW
Soils are a complex mixture of air, water, organic and inorganic solids. Soil chemistry is a branch of soil science that is concerned with the chemical reactions involving these phases. Traditional soil chemistry has focused primarily on chemical reactions in the soil that affect plant growth. For example, a great deal of research has been conducted on N-P-K chemistry in soils in order to increase crop yields and fertilizer efficiency. However, during the past several decades there have been growing concerns about organic and inorganic contamination of important resources and potential ecological and human health risks. Consequently, the emphasis in soil chemistry has shifted from strictly agricultural to environmental.A knowledge of environmental soil chemistry is paramount to predicting the fate, mobility and potential toxicity of contaminants in the environment. The vast majority of environmental contaminants are initially released to the soil. Once a chemical is exposed to the soil environment a myriad of chemical reactions can occur that may increase/decrease a contaminants toxicity. These reactions include adsorption/desorption, precipitation, polymerization, dissolution, complexation, and oxidation/reduction. These reactions are often disregarded by scientists and engineers involved with environmental remediation. Understanding these processes will enable us to better predict the fate and toxicity of contaminants and will ultimately provide us with the knowledge to develop sound and cost-effective remediation strategies.
In this course we will begin the semester by reviewing basic soil and chemical concepts. We will than examine the various chemical processes which occur in soils and the chemical behavior of soil constituent surfaces. Finally, we will apply these concepts to understand many of the soil chemical reactions that affect a contaminants mobility and toxicity.
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This web page is maintained by M.J. Eick, Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0404. If you have comments or suggestions, email Me at eick@vt.edu
These pages were last revised on June 26, 2007