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The first edition of this text, published in 1995, has been a popular selection for junior/senior and beginning graduate level courses that teach soil chemistry in the context of environmental pollution. The new version retains the chapter structure and content of the first edition, but it has been updated and substantial new information has been incorporated, resulting in an additional 85 pages. The most evident change in the second edition is the infusion of examples pertaining to the use of molecular spectroscopy and microscopy to elucidate reactions and speciation of chemicals in soils.
The range of techniques available for molecular studies in soil chemistry is introduced at the end of the first chapter, and then exemplified later in the book during discussions of topics such as macromolecular structure of humic substances, mechanisms of surface complexation, and speciation of heavy metals in contaminated soils. This is a welcome attempt to bridge the persistent pedagogical gap between the foundations of soil chemistry and the state-of-the-art tools used by its contemporary practitioners. As a result, the text is a good starting point for beginning graduate students and researchers in allied fields in addition to the target undergraduate audience, and instructors will find it easier to incorporate data from advanced research methods into lectures and discussions of fundamental topics of soil chemistry. The approach works, in this case, because the text remains, first and foremost, an introduction to soil chemical constituents and processes; it is not intended as a compendium of research techniques. Through an extensive and up-to-date bibliography, readers are referred to published studies and detailed reviews.
Chapter 1 introduces the field of environmental soil chemistry in relation to historical and emerging awareness of problems pertaining to subsurface contamination, the numerous sources of soil pollution, and the diversity of approaches to remediation. The chapter concludes by emphasizing the need to elucidate the chemical speciation of contaminants to predict their fate and transport. This cannot be done, of course, without first understanding the chemistry of soil minerals, organic matter, and the soil solution. These topics are covered in Chapters 2 through 4, before the discussion of chemical reactions, including sorption (Chapter 5), ion exchange (Chapter 6), and oxidation–reduction (Chapter 8). A full chapter is devoted to kinetics of soil chemical processes, while precipitation and dissolution are discussed principally in the soil solution and (to a lesser extent) kinetics chapters. The last two chapters of the book address, in turn, soil acidity and salinity, thereby providing a context for application of concepts developed earlier in the text.
I used the second edition and found it to be a fitting text for my undergraduate course in soil chemistry this past semester. The coverage is both thorough and concise, which is a key to its deployment in an undergraduate course. While emphasis is placed on the inorganic chemistry of soils, there is less of a systematic focus on the reactivity of organics. For example, the chapter on sorption processes focuses on inorganic sorptives exclusively, whereas parallel coverage for organic compounds, as found for example in McBride's Environmental Chemistry of Soils (M.B. McBride, 1994), is lacking. The text also contains a chapter on kinetics (Chapter 7), which deals with methodology and analysis of rate data deriving from the full range of soil chemical processes (sorption–desorption, mineral weathering, redox reactions). In my own course, I have found it most useful to address the different parts of this chapter during coverage of the respective processes, rather than to treat kinetics as a separate topic. For example, the description of kinetic models and rate-limiting steps for mineral dissolution can be used effectively to place thermodynamic predictions of mineral solubility into an environmental context.
In addition to illustrations found in the earlier edition, many new ones have been added, including several in full color, contributing to the book's aesthetic appeal. Most of the chapters address one or more specific topics within a "box" format that facilitates the presentation of derivations (e.g., the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation), worked examples (e.g., calculations of structural formulae of layer silicates from analytical data, electrical double layer parameters), or discrete concepts (e.g., Lewis acids and bases). This is especially appealing to students that like to see an issue or problem presented concisely and worked out in full. As a result of the clear writing style, concise chapters, subheading format and quality illustrations, the book is very accessible and should prove to be a valuable resource to students and researchers in environmental science and allied fields.
Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85749
chorover{at}cals.arizona.edu
REFERENCES
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