SOME COMMENTS ON THE STUDY OF IRON-POOR SOILS BY MOSSBAUER-SPECTROSCOPY

We discuss the use of MS and XRD in the study of an iron-poor soil. We have performed Mossbauer spectroscopy and careful XRD analysis on < 2 mu m, < 50 mu m and < 2 mm sized samples, treated with different Fe-e xtraction methods. Since the iron content of the coarser fractions is comparable to that of the clay fractions, we show that the usual Mossb auer sample preparation procedures used to overcome the texture effect s and to make background absorption corrections are insufficient and t hat additional homogenization is necessary. By milling the samples for a short interval we achieved spectral area values which are in agreem ent with Atomic Absorption results and allow to follow the behaviour o f the extraction methods.