Preparing Soils for Mineralogical Analyses

• Main Author: D. A. Soukup
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.507.634; http://faculty.unlv.edu/buckb/Buck Publications/Soukup_etal08.pdf

Sample preparation is an important aspect of soil mineralogical analysis. The use of pre-treatments is often necessary to facilitate sample dispersion and/or to concentrate a par-ticular size fraction for subsequent analyses. However, pretreatments may alter, or even destroy, certain fractions of the soil (Kunze and Dixon, 1986). The pretreatments described in the following sections of this chapter are designed to have a minimum effect on con-stituents other than those being eliminated. In spite of this, the analyst must still be careful to perform only those pretreatments that are essential to accomplish the study objectives. Additionally, the analyst should have a clear understanding of the possible consequences for data interpretation. The reagents used for the various pretreatments do not need to be prepared with a high degree of precision. For example, the reagents may be mixed in bea-kers rather than in a volumetric flask. SOIL PREPARATION As discussed in Chapter 1 (Soukup et al., 2008, this volume), special field sampling and preservation techniques are required for organic soils, permafrost-affected soils, and Vertisols (Soil Survey Staff, 1996; Schoeneberger et al., 2002). To preserve organic soils