Abstract
In soils, dissolved silicon (Si) is adsorbed onto soil particles or is leached into groundwater through the soil profile. Andisols may play an important role in contributing to high dissolved Si concentrations in groundwater on Jeju Island, Korea. In this study, we evaluated the available Si content that potentially affects groundwater composition and investigated the relationship between the available Si content and chemical properties of volcanic ash soil on Jeju Island. We used the 1 M sodium acetate buffer (pH 4.0) to extract the available Si. Selected chemical properties were determined for 290 topsoil samples collected from different land sites throughout Jeju Island, and we analyzed the available Si content in the typifying pedons of Jeju Island and mainland Korea. The available Si content in Jeju Island topsoils ranged from 75 to 150 mg·kg−1, and the available Si content of Andisols in both orchards and grasslands was significantly higher than that of non-Andisols. The available Si content was highly correlated with the amounts of oxalate extractable Si, Al, and Fe in Andisols and was negatively related to the Alp/Alo ratio. With increasing elevation, we detected a decrease in the available Si and allophane content in Andisols, whereas Al-humus complexes increased with increasing elevation. The ratio of available Si in the lowest subsoil/topsoil increased to a value of 6.0, indicating that large amounts of available Si are present in the subsoil. The available Si content in the lowest subsoil of Andisols on Jeju Island was 10 times higher than that in the typifying pedons of the Korean mainland. In contrast, there were no differences in the available Si content between the topsoil and the subsoil of the typifying pedon series of Jeju and mainland non-Andisols because of differences in pedogenic processes. Collectively, our findings indicate that weathering of Andisols on Jeju Island potentially affects the Si concentration in groundwater.
Highlights
IntroductionJeju Island (latitude of 33°06′–34°00′ and longitude of 126°08′–126°58′) is located 450 km south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea
Jeju Island is located 450 km south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea
It has been demonstrated that the average available Si content in paddy field soils collected from 2,070 sites in Korea was 68.2 mg·kg− 1 [34], whereas the average available Si content in upland soils under melon cultivation in the Gyeongsangbuk-do region of Korea was found to be 96.7 mg·kg− 1 [35], which are lower than the available Si content in the soils of Jeju Island
Summary
Jeju Island (latitude of 33°06′–34°00′ and longitude of 126°08′–126°58′) is located 450 km south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It is the largest volcanic island in South Korea (75 × 32 km) [1]. E median value of Si concentration in the groundwater of Jeju Island is 33.6 mg SiO2 L− 1 (maximum 63 mg SiO2 L− 1), which is 1.8 times higher than the median value of 19.2 mg SiO2 L− 1 of bottled mineral water produced on the Korean mainland [10, 11]. On Jeju Island, most of the drinking water is supplied from groundwater sources [4, 7], in which Si accounts for more than 80% of the constituents considered to contribute to its desirable taste [10]. Many researchers have reported that Si in drinking water is effective in preventing Alzheimer’s disease by suppressing the absorption of aluminum in the body and has antiarteriosclerosis effect, enhances bone formation, and reduces cholesterol [13,14,15,16,17]. erefore, it is important to determine the source of Si flowing into the groundwater on Jeju Island
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