Silver adsorption/desorption on soil constituents and fractionation of silver and other trace elements in soils

[Truncated] The aim of this study was to provide a better understanding of silver geochemistry in soils for applications in mining exploration and environmental protection. The study was carried out with four major parts: material characterization, silver adsorption by soil constituents, kinetic desorption of silver by soil constituents, speciations of silver and other trace elements in soils. It is understood that the relative impacts of common soil constituents on the behavior of silver in the environment would largely depend on the surface properties and chemistry of these constituents. Modern techniques such as X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry have been used in this study to characterise the soil constituents, and the results have been used in interpreting adsorption/desorption of Ag by soil constituents. For example, the difference in specific surface areas of ferrihydrite (245 m2/g) and goethite (41 m2/g) has been considered when interpreting the much greater sorption of Ag by ferrihydrite relative to goethite.