Effect of Carbonates and Bivalent Cations and Their Relationships with Soil Organic Matter from the View Point of Aggregate Formation

Abstract

Abstract The effect of carbonates on soil structure has not been sufficiently studied yet, despite the fact that in the literature their positive impact is mentioned mostly. Carbonates are the source of bivalent cations in soil solution and may be involved in stabilization of the aggregates, because negatively charged organic materials can be adsorbed onto the surface of clay by bivalent or polyvalent cations. We studied the effect of carbonates and bivalent cations and their relationships with soil organic matter (SOM) from the point of view of aggregate formation. The studies were carried out in several fields located on loamy Calcaric Chernozem, loamy Haplic and Mollic Fluvisols. The results showed that between exchangeable Mg2+ and water-stable macro-aggregates (WSAma) in size fractions >2 mm, positive correlations were found; however, the content of Mg2+ negative correlated with the contents of WSAma in <1 mm fractions as well as with waterstable micro-aggregates (WSAmi). The threshold limit for Mg2+ content for the formation of water-stable macro-aggregates was at 11.5 cmol/kg if all loamy soils were assessed together. A further increase resulted in a lower content of WSAma. If all investigated soils were assessed separately, these results did not enable us to distinguish the maximum formation of WSAma by Mg2+ in individual soils. We observed a positive correlation between the sum of basic exchangeable cations (SBC) as well as between cation exchange capacity (CEC) and larger size fractions of WSAma >2 mm; however, between SBC as well as CEC and smaller size fractions of WSAma >1 mm and WSAmi negative correlations were observed. Statistically significant negative correlations were observed between SOM content in WSA and carbonate content, and this effect was stronger in relation to the labile carbon. There were also positive correlations between SOM in WSA and SBC and CEC found if all loamy soils were assessed together.