A CRITICAL-ASSESSMENT OF SORPTION-DESORPTION MECHANISMS AT THE SOIL MINERAL WATER INTERFACE/

Sorption is one of the most important chemical processes in soil. It a ffects the fate and mobility of nutrients and contaminants in soils an d waters greatly. This paper critically reviews the mechanisms of sorp tion/desorption phenomena at the mineral/water interface. A brief disc ussion of macroscopic, equilibrium approaches for describing sorption processes is provided. However, emphasis will be placed on the importa nce of understanding the rates of sorption/desorption processes and co upling the kinetic investigations with in-situ atomic/molecular resolu tion surface techniques. The use of X-ray absorption fine structure (X AFS) spectroscopy and scanning force microscopy (SFM) will be emphasiz ed.