Soil chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical composition, reactions, and processes occurring in soils, with emphasis on the solid phase (minerals and organic matter), soil solution, and exchange sites at particle surfaces. It examines speciation, sorption–desorption, precipitation–dissolution, redox transformations, and complexation of nutrients, contaminants, and trace elements. Central topics include cation exchange capacity, pH buffering, carbon and nitrogen cycling, and interactions among clay minerals, soil organic matter, and metal ions. Soil chemistry underpins models of nutrient availability, contaminant mobility, and biogeochemical cycling, and provides a mechanistic basis for agronomy, environmental remediation, and ecosystem functioning.
The UN climate summit, COP30, is currently taking place in Belém, Brazil, a region with some of the most carbon-dense soils on Earth: the Amazonian dark earths. These deep, dark and exceptionally fertile soils are thought ...
Environment
Nov 13, 2025
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A comprehensive Hungarian study has revealed that the behavior of pharmaceutical residues in soil does not depend on a single factor, but is shaped by several interacting processes. The researchers emphasized that, based ...
Environment
Nov 6, 2025
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China's agricultural soils have become increasingly acidic over the last few decades, threatening crop productivity and ecosystem health. This acidification has been driven by the extensive use of chemical nitrogen fertilizers ...
Ecology
Oct 29, 2025
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A common soil fungus (Purpureocillium lilacinum BA1S), when combined with calcium and mild alkalinity, speeds up the breakdown of biodegradable plastic (PBAT), offering a greener path for managing agricultural and packaging ...
Biotechnology
Oct 20, 2025
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Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage multiple body systems and lead to learning and developmental problems. The element has been phased out of use in paint, gasoline, and other industrial applications for decades, but it ...
Environment
Oct 15, 2025
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Antibiotic resistance is one of the most pressing global health challenges, and farms that use livestock manure as fertilizer have emerged as important sources of resistant bacteria and genes in the environment.
Ecology
Oct 15, 2025
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Researchers have unveiled a surprising new way that soil microbes can use sunlight energy—even after the lights go out. A team from Kunming University of Science and Technology and the University of Massachusetts Amherst ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 8, 2025
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Soil contamination is a global environmental concern, with toxic metals and metalloids from industrial activities persisting as long-term pollutants. Arsenic (As), although naturally occurring, becomes widespread when mobilized ...
Ecology
Oct 6, 2025
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Beneath our feet, an invisible world of electron exchanges quietly drives the chemistry that sustains ecosystems, controls water quality, and even determines the fate of pollutants.
Earth Sciences
Sep 26, 2025
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From lifelong farmers to backyard gardeners, most plant-lovers know that adding organic matter to a field, vegetable plot or flowerpot increases the soil's moisture. Now, for the first time, Northwestern University scientists ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 11, 2025
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