Distribution of aluminium among its mobilizable forms in soils of the Jizera Mountains region

Abstract

Labile Al forms can be dangerous in acid soils due to their potential toxicity to plants. This paper deals with the distribution of exchangeable, weakly organically bound, and total organically bound Al forms in soils on 98 sites of the Jizera Mountains region. For the extraction of these Al forms, 0.5M KCl (AlKCl), 0.3M CuCl2 (AlCuCl2), and 0.05M Na4P2O7 (AlNa4P2O7) solutions were used, respectively. Aluminium concentrations in all extracts were determined by means of ICP-OES. Following mean concentrations of Al forms were found in the O and B horizons (mg/kg): AlKCl - 1236 and 832, AlCuCl2 - 4268 and 1945, and AlNa4P2O7 - 5043 and 8420. Basic soil characteristics were determined by commonly used methods. Their influence on Al forms distribution was assessed. Factor analysis showed that the most important soil factors controlling Al forms distribution were soil reaction and the total content of Ca (or Ca and Mg in the B horizon).

Keywords

• aluminium
• labile al forms
• forest soils
• soil acidification
• al extraction