COMPARISON OF GROUNDWATER COLLOIDS IN ADJOINING SOILS OF FLORIDA FLATWOODS1

Abstract

Colloids in soil water are a constituent of natural geochemical fluxes and have the potential to facilitate contaminant transport, but few data are available on their composition and concentration. This study addresses how the composition and concentration of groundwater solids relate to hydrological and soil morphological variables of the Florida flatwoods landscape. Groundwater from saturated soil horizons was sampled biweekly for 1 year along an Aquod/Udult boundary using piezometers designed specifically to minimize disturbance and to permit the valid assessment of suspended solids. Readily dispersible clay from core samples of soil horizons was collected and quantified. Groundwater and soil colloids were analyzed physically, chemically, and mineralogically. Aquod groundwater had consistently lower pH, higher electrical conductivity, and more total solids (TS) and organic carbon (OC) than did Udult groundwater. Significant decreases in both TS and OC concentrations in groundwater occurred with depth for both soils. In contrast, the mineralogy of groundwater colloids was insensitive to soil and horizon differences. Quartz dominated inorganic colloid fractions in groundwater samples from all horizons, even in argillic horizons where clay fractions contained little or no quartz. No statistical correlations were found between masses of groundwater colloids and soil water-dispersible clay. However, the proportion of organic carbon was higher in groundwater than in soil matrices. Results are consistent with carbon and colloidal quartz movement in shallow groundwater of the soils studied and document that natural colloid and solute fluxes can be highly soil specific.