Sorption of heavy metals in strongly weathered soils: an overview

Current knowledge of sorption processes in tropical soils is reviewed. Landscapes throughout the tropics are dominated by oxisols which occupy extensive areas of potentially highly productive soils. These soils are dominated by low-activity sesquioxide minerals and clays that have variable charge surfaces. The limited information on tropical soils available suggests that the composition of the ambient soil solution can influence sorption through changes in particle surface-charge density. Thus the observed decrease in sorption in the presence of divalent index cations may be related to the effect of ionic charge on the double-layer thickness which is manifested through a change in surface-charge characteristics. However, much work needs to be done to differentiate the effect of cation charge on surface-charge density from the competitive effect between the index cation and heavy-metal ions for the sorption sites. The effects of inorganic and organic ligands on adsorption of Cd by variable charge surfaces are also reviewed.