Submit to Minerals Review for Minerals Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Soil Mineralogy, Genesis and Chemical Composition

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 May 2021) | Viewed by 12413

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Yuri Lopes Zinn

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Lavras, 37200-900 Lavras, MG, Brazil
Interests: soil micromorphology; soil mineralogy; soil organic carbon; soil genesis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Minerals comprise ca. 95% of the mass of most soils of the world. Typically, soils are a mixture of primary minerals comprising the coarse particle-size fractions, whereas secondary layer silicates and oxides/hydroxides of Fe and Al form the bulk of soil clays. In addition, carbonates, sulfates, and many other mineral families can be present, and the close interaction of contrasting mineral suites and particle sizes is what makes soils the unique media so favorable for plant growth. Or, perhaps not. The different processes of soil formation, acting on each soil´s parent material—mostly rocks and minerals—and under the simultaneous effect of different climates, relief, organisms, and time, will result in soils being so different from—or so similar to—each other. For this Special Issue of Minerals, we welcome papers demonstrating how soil mineralogy and chemical composition are the result of soil genesis, and how these can affect soil properties and functioning. Submitted papers must ideally present novel data on soil mineralogy and chemical composition using X-ray or other advanced techniques. We especially invite papers investigating soils with unusual composition, developed from unique parent materials, or representative of poorly studied areas of the globe.

Dr. Yuri Lopes Zinn
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

clay minerals
soil parent materials
trace elements
geochemistry
pedology
soil chemistry

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

25 pages, 3278 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Proxy Study of a Holocene Soil Profile from Romania and Its Relevance for Speleothem Based Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions

by Luchiana Faur, Virgil Drăgușin, Daniela Dimofte, Ferenc Lázár Forray, Maria Ilie, Constantin Marin, Cristian Mănăilescu, Ionuț Cornel Mirea, Cristian George Panaiotu, Barbara Soare, Alida Timar-Gabor and Maria Laura Tîrlă

Minerals 2021, 11(8), 873; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11080873 - 12 Aug 2021

Viewed by 2695

Abstract

In this study, we describe a sedimentary deposit situated above Ascunsă Cave (SW Romania) that should be in depositional connection with coeval stalagmites from the cave. We excavated a 2.5 m deep soil profile and took contiguous bulk samples every 5 cm. Soil samples were analyzed for clay mineralogy, grain size, chemical composition, magnetic susceptibility, and stable carbon isotopes. Radiocarbon dating revealed that the soil is of Holocene age, and presents a depositional hiatus between 5.4 and 2.3 thousand years before the present. Due to the open system behavior of soils and mobility of organic matter, a few hundred years of uncertainty should be considered for the duration of this hiatus. The fine fraction is dominated by silt, while the clay mineralogical association is made of illite, chlorite, kaolinite, vermiculite, and illite–vermiculite and illite–chlorite mixed layered minerals. The sediment source of this soil is represented by a nearby mélange complex, as well as by an underlying terra rossa-type soil. As this latter type of soil is widespread in our study area, we performed luminescence dating on two samples from a representative location close to our site and it appears that this type of Mediterranean soil was formed during the Last Interglacial period. δ¹³C variability in soil organic matter and a stalagmite from the cave are comparing well, and could help future studies identify modifications in isotopic fractionation processes within the cave. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Mineralogy, Genesis and Chemical Composition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 15681 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Mottled, Non-Lithified Paleosol in Brazil: Diagnosis by Morphological and Mineralogical Features

by Yuri Lopes Zinn and Camila Fernandes Miranda

Minerals 2021, 11(6), 616; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11060616 - 8 Jun 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1991

Abstract

The identification of paleosols is difficult when no buried horizons or lithification occur. Here, we described the identification of a possible paleosol, its characterization, and which features supported its positive diagnosis. In a construction site, a vertical cut exposed an unusual red–yellow mottling with massive structure and channels (probably faunal), in contrast with the overlying homogeneous red Oxisol with fine granular structure. A similar but more deferrified section with white–yellow mottling also occurred nearby, and both were sampled as large clods. In thin sections, many oriented clay coatings occur along channel voids, suggesting illuviation, as well as dissolving Fe nodules and Mn coatings along planar and channel voids. X-ray diffraction showed a clay dominated by kaolinite, traces of illite, and absence of gibbsite, again contrasting with the gibsitic-kaolinitic clay of the Oxisol. We confirmed the diagnosis of a Paleoultisol due to the following incompatibilities with the overlying Oxisol: (1) massive, apedal structure, and higher bulk density; (2) clay coatings indicative of illuviation as key soil-forming process; (3) low clay contents in particle-size analysis due to cementation; (4) very low organic carbon consistent with long-term inhumation; and (5) kaolinitic–illitic clay. The unusual granular microstructure of the B horizon of the Oxisol is partly derived from disintegration and desilication of the Paleoultisol. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Mineralogy, Genesis and Chemical Composition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 1601 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Selected Elements in the Soils Covering Mass Graves from World Wars I and II in Southeastern Poland

by Józef Żychowski

Minerals 2021, 11(3), 275; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11030275 - 8 Mar 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2922

Abstract

This study evaluates the reasons for the different content of eight selected elements, Cu, Pb, Zn, S, K, Na, Ca and P, in the upper sections of soil profiles covering mass graves in southeastern Poland. The burial sites include 18 mass graves from World Wars I and II, an active parish cemetery, an old kirkut (Jewish cemetery) and, as a comparative site, a forest nursery. Chemical analyses were carried out using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Among the elements were P and Ca, which dominate in the soils covering the burial sites from World War II. Higher amounts of the elements analysed were found at sites where many people were buried in a small area. The burial sites dug in pure sand revealed a lower content of the elements analysed, particularly Ca and P. In places where human ashes were scattered, Ca and P prevailed. The comparative site, a wet forest margin, is characterized by low levels of S and relatively higher amounts of Ca and P. In the soils covering World War I graves P, in particular, prevails over Zn, Pb and Cu. Differences in the concentrations of the elements studied depend on the type and age of the burial site, the type of soil, the slope gradient and water content prevailing at the site and the proximity to mass graves and cemeteries found close to each other. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Mineralogy, Genesis and Chemical Composition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

15 pages, 5445 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Synthesis of Organoclays Based on Clay Minerals with Different Structural Expansion Capacities

by Leonid Perelomov, Saglara Mandzhieva, Tatiana Minkina, Yury Atroshchenko, Irina Perelomova, Tatiana Bauer, David Pinsky and Anatoly Barakhov

Minerals 2021, 11(7), 707; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11070707 - 30 Jun 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3778

Abstract

An important goal in environmental research for industrial activity and sites is the investigation and development of effective adsorbents for chemical pollutants that are widespread, inexpensive, unharmful to the environment, and have the required adsorption selectivity. Organoclays are adsorption materials that can be obtained by modifying clays and clay minerals with various organic compounds through intercalation and surface grafting. Organoclays have important practical applications as adsorbents of a wide range of organic pollutants and some inorganic contaminants. The traditional raw materials for the synthesis of organoclays are phyllosilicates with the expanding structural cell of the smectite group, such as montmorillonite. Moreover, other phyllosilicates and inosilicates are used to synthesize organoclay to a limited extent. The purpose of this review was to analyze the possibility of using minerals of other groups with different abilities to expand the structure and structural charge for the adsorption of chemical environmental pollutants. The structural characteristics of various groups of phyllosilicates and chain minerals that affect their ability to modify organic surfactants and the adsorption properties of prepared organoclays were reviewed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Mineralogy, Genesis and Chemical Composition)

► Show Figures