Changes in the chemical composition of an acidic soil treated with marble quarry and marble cutting wastes

Abstract

Soil acidity greatly affects the availability of plant nutrients. The level of soil acidity can be adjusted by treating the soil with certain additives. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of marble quarry waste (MQW) and marble cutting waste (MCW) on the chemical composition and the acidity of a soil. Marble wastes at different rates were applied to an acid soil. Their effectiveness in neutralizing the soil pH was compared with that of agricultural lime. The changes in the chemical composition of the soil were also evaluated with column test at the end of a 75-day incubation period. The results indicated that the MQW and MCW applications significantly increased the soil pH (from 4.71 up to 6.54), the CaCO3 content (from 0.33% up to 0.75%), and the exchangeable Ca (from 14.79cmolkg−1 up to 21.18cmolkg−1) and Na (from 0.57cmolkg−1 up to 1.07cmolkg−1) contents, but decreased the exchangeable K (from 0.46cmolkg−1 down to 0.28cmolkg−1), the plant-available P (from 25.56mgL−1 down to 16.62mgL−1), and the extractable Fe (from 259.43mgL−1 down to 55.4mgL−1), Cu (from 1.97mgL−1 down to 1.42mgL−1), Mn (from 17.89mgL−1 down to 4.61mgL−1) and Zn (from 7.88mgL−1 down to 1.56mgL−1) contents. In addition, the Cd (from 0.060mgL−1 down to 0.046mgL−1), Ni (from 0.337mgL−1 down to 0.092mgL−1) and Pb (from 28.00mgL−1 down to 20.08mgL−1) concentrations decreased upon the treatment of the soil with marble wastes.