POTASSIUM RESERVES IN A SANDY CLAY SOIL FROM THE SAXMUNDHAM EXPERIMENT: KINETICS AND EQUILIBRIUM THERMODYNAMICS

Potassium-calcium exchange equilibria in, and the kinetics of K release from, soil from the Nil and PK treatments of the Saxmundham Experiment, Rotation 1, and the Ga, Ca + K and K saturated panicle size fractions of the soils were investigated. The free energy and enthalpy ot exchange showed K preference in all the solids. Selectivity for K decreased with increasing particle size and pre-treatment with K salts. A comparison of the ‘differential enthalpy of exchange: per cent K saturation’ relationship for the whole soil with those of the particle size fractions suggests that soil dispersion during particle size separation also decreased K selectivity significantly. When related to the mineralogical composition of the soil, the differential enthalpy data suggest that maximum K. selectivity is associated with a vermiculite/smectite component of inter-stratified minerals in the soil. Isotopic exchange using ^4sCa on the decalcified solids showed a measurable rate of exchange for the Ca forms of the <0.2 and 0.2–2 /μm fractions. This is attributed to traces of blocking materials (CaCO₃ or hydroxy-aluminium polymers), which are removed or rendered porous during treatment with dilute KCl solution, so that isotopic exchange with Ca is then much more rapid. The kinetics of K extraction with a Ca saturated resin, interpreted on the basis of a three-compartment model, suggest that sorbed K and K released by ‘fast’ and slow processes, representing sites of low and high K selectivity, were associated with minera-logically distinct phases in the various particle size fractions.