Soil Mineralogy

Factors controlling soil mineralogy (substrate, climate, plant activity); primary minerals in soils and their functions (quartz, K feldspar, mica, heavy minerals); pedogenic minerals in soils (clay minerals, pedogenic oxides, carbonates); structure and geochemistry of clay minerals with focus on kaolinite, halloysite, illite, smectite, vermiculite, secondary chlorite, allophane, imogolite; functions of clay minerals for soil fertility (provide nutrients, bind water), binding pollutants (organics and heavy metals), and soil organic matter stabilization; introduction of analytical methods to identify and characterize clay minerals (X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), pedogenic oxides (of Al, Fe, Mn, Ti), their formation, and role for organic matter and pollutant binding; methods to characterize pedogenic oxides (selective dissolution techniques, 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near edge structure); carbonates and their role for soil fertility; in addition, typical soil types containing the various pedogenic minerals are introduced.