Abstract
From deposition measurements, for the beech forest on limestone soil, it was calculated that about 60 % of deposited H+ ions from the atmosphere were buffered through the forest canopy prior to leaching on to the soil surface, compared to only 33% for the acid soil ecosystem. Soil internal proton production, as expected, was lower (1.5 keq. ha−1. a−1) in the acid soil than the calcareous soil ecosystem (15.3 keq. ha−1. a−1 ). Two aspects of soil acidification are discussed; leaching of base cations from soil and release of toxins.