An ecosystem approach to soil acidification.

With respect to soil acidification, two aspects must be considered: 1. Soil acidification is the consequence of the formation or input of acids. Carbonate and silicate rocks are weak bases. Therefore soils cannot acidify as the consequence of rock weathering (exception: sulfide rocks, the content of sulfides in silicate rocks is usually negligible). Rainwater of pH > 5 possesses alkalinity and cannot therefore acidify soils. The main acid source remaining are the organisms due to their life processes. This chapter deals mainly with an approach to quantify the rate of formation of acidity due to the life processes in the ecosystem. Since man has changed the acid/base status of aerosols, cloud water and all types of precipitation from alkalinity to acidity, the rate of acid deposition has to be considered as well. 2. With respect to the life processes of the organisms existing in an ecosystem, the soil represents the reaction vessel. The second aspect of soil acidification is represented by the chemical reactions taking place in this reaction vessel. This aspect is not treated in detail in this chapter, but elsewhere in this volume.

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