The Impact of Organo-Mineral Complexation on Mineral Weathering in the Soil Zone: Column Experiment

While it is well known that organo-mineral complexes can protect organic matter (OM) from degradation, its impact on soil mineral weathering is not clear. Strong evidence has shown that the adsorption of OM to mineral surface accelerates the dissolution of some minerals, but these observations are limited to bench-scale experiments that focus on specific OM and minerals. In this study, soil samples prepared from an undisturbed forest site were used to determine mineral weathering rates under differing OM sorption on minerals. Soil samples from two depths, 0-6cm and 84-100cm, were chosen to represent different soil OM content and soil mineralogy. Soil OM was removed stepwise by heating samples to 350℃ for different durations (0-6cm: 100% removed, ~50% removed, and no removal; 84-100cm: 100% removed and no removal). Pretreated soil samples were subjected to flow-through, saturated column experiments using 0.01M LiCl and 5%CO2/95%air gas saturated (pH = 4.5) influent solution. Each column treatment was run in duplicate under a constant flow rate (Darcy velocity ≈ 8cm/hr). All columns reached a steady state after 600~700 pore volumes at which effluent pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and element concentrations were constant. At the 95% significance level, the DOC from OM-present columns was significantly higher, as expected. Correspondingly, effluent pH was lower in higher OM content columns. The chemical denudation rates were calculated from the effluent concentrations of the elements of interest. For the soil columns from both depths, silicon (Si) leaching rate showed that dissolution of silicate minerals was 2-3 times higher in OM-removed columns, suggesting that organo-mineral complexes suppress mineral dissolution. The N2-BET specific surface area (SSA) measurement also showed that the removal of OM increased SSA, which supported the idea that OM adsorption had decreased mineral exposure and thus decreased mineral dissolution. The leaching rates of some trace elements, including Mn, Ni, and Sr, were also significantly higher in OM-removed columns, reaffirming soil OM reduced mineral dissolution rates. Therefore, mineral chemical weathering, while widely considered facilitated by biological activities, may also suffer reduction when mineral surface is occluded by OM.