Stressors and Soil Contamination - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 55

Gaseous
Air and gas

Solids

Soil organics
Humic substances
Soil polysaccharides

Soil

Inorganics

Noncrystalline Crystalline

Oxides and hydrous oxides of
iron, aluminum and silicon;
Primary and secondary minerals;
Carbonates, sulphates, sulphides,
phosphates

Hydrous oxides of
iron, aluminum and
silicon;
Allophane

Aqueous
Water with
dissolved
solutes

FIGURE 2.9
Soil constituents. Proportioning of the three phases (gaseous, aqueous, and solids) is approximately representa-
tive of a partly saturated soil.

Idealized soil unit

Silt particle

Carbonate

Clay mineral
particle

Crystalline and amorphous
oxides, hydrous oxides

Soil organic matter
(SOM)

Ped (fabric unit)

FIGURE 2.10
An idealized typical soil unit in a soil mass consisting of various soil fractions. The positions of the various
fractions and the coniguration deine the structure of the soil. (From Yong, R.N. and Mulligan, C.N., Natural
Attenuation of Contaminants in Soils , CRC Press, Boca Raton, 310 pp., 2004.)