Contribution of individual pure or mixed-phase mineral particles to metal sorption in soils

The contribution of individual minerals and their associations to metal sorption in soils is little known. We therefore determined the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in individual mineral particles (clay minerals, Fe-rich clay minerals, clay-Fe oxide associations, Fe-oxyhydroxides, calcite) after equilibration of an acid and an alkaline soil sample with 10 mmol/L of these metals with the help of Transmission Electron Microscopy equipped with Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (TEM-EDX). The results of the TEM-EDX measurements were compared with those of batch sorption experiments.