Hanlie Hong (Editor)
China University of Geosciences, Hubei, Peoples Republic of China

Series: Chemistry Research and Applications
BISAC: SCI013000

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been applied to assess the mineral composition of iron oxides in a laterite soil profile at Xuancheng, southeastern China, the profile is 10.4 meter thick and is subdivided into 18 lithological layers. Since the analysis is restricted to the particle surface, this technique is uniquely suitable to sensitively determine the fine particle iron components in soils directly, especially those coating on clay mineral surfaces, and avoiding dissolving and recrystallizing of iron oxides during the treating processes of selective dissolution techniques. This new book suggests that the content of goethite and the hematite/goethite ratio instead of total iron content can be used to probe the palaeoclimate conditions, and XPS method is efficient to detect the iron components in laterite soils. (Imprint: Nova)