The Thermodynamics of Soil Solutions

Abstract

Soil chemistry has spawned a number of textbooks in the last 5 years, and this is one of the best. The mathematical treatment makes the reading heavy going, but it will provide many rewards. The book's scope is too narrow and the treatment too detailed for beginning soil chemistry courses, but it is excellent for advanced soil chemistry courses. It is also an excellent book for those wishing an introduction to the thermodynamics of terrestrial waters contacting sediments. Some people object to the use of equilibrium in natural open systems because, in the strict sense, they never reach equilibrium. Soils seem to be close enough, and their rate of change slow enough, that equilibrium thermodynamics often apply. Brought into the laboratory and made a closed system, soils can attain at least a partial equilibrium.