Selective Chemical Extraction of Soil Components and Bound Metal Species

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background

Soils and sediments are basic components of our environment, as they provide nurture for living matter and serve as "sinks" for deleterious species. The composition of these materials reflects the nature of the original base rock, the degree of degradation and leaching introduced by weathering cycles, and the influence of external inputs such as plant debris or contamination introduced by human activities, and accordingly varies greatly between geographical regions or the horizon sampled.