The Dependence of Organic Carbon on the Clay Content in Different Types of Soil

Abstract

Through determination of organic carbon in the soil, practical solutions are established for improvement and conservation of soil humus reserve. Humus and soil organic matter represent the permanent reserve of nutrients in the soil that determine the actual fertility of that certain soil. The high variability of the soil’s content of organic components proves to be determined by the diversity of the soil type analyzed in which the process of bioaccumulation acts differently on a extremely variable clay content background. Fine clay and some organic materials are colloids and represent the smallest components in the soil. However, they have a large surface area in relation to their weight. The surface of clay particles is negatively charged, for the soil nutrients, which are cations (ions with positive charged) bound to the surface, to create a nutrient repository for the plants. It is assumed that the mutual action between the humic acidsand the clay minerals is produced through Ca 2+, Mg 2+, K +, Na +, Fe 3+, Al 3+ cations interposed between the foil layers of the silicates. These combinations are specific to all soils, forming the adsorption, argilohumic or colloidal complex with a key role in the processes of mineral nutrition. This paper presents the dependence of organic carbon on the clay content in different types of soil (skeletal destric litosoil, stagnant moderately eroded luvisoil, limestone mollic gleyic aluvisoil, argic phaeozem).