Hydrogeochemical balance of forest umbrisol profiles ('Sierra de Gata', central western Spain)

Abstract

Three techniques for obtaining soil water solutions (gravitational and matrical waters extracted using both in situ tension lysimeters and in vitro pressure chambers) and their later chemical analysis were performed in order to know the evolution of the soil‐solution composition when water moves down through the soil, from the Ah soil horizon to the BwC‐ or C‐horizons of forest soils located in western Spain. Additionally, ion concentrations and water volumes of input waters to soil (canopy washout) and exported waters (drainage solutions from C‐horizons) were determined to establish the net balance of solutes in order to determine the rates of leaching or retention of ions. A generalized process of sorption or retention of most components (even Cl−) was observed, from the soil surface to the C‐horizon, in both gravitational and matrical waters, with H4SiO4, Mn2+, Na+, and SO42− being the net exported components from the soil through the groundwater. These results enhance the role of the recycling effect in these forest soils. The net percentages of elements retained in these forest soils, considering the inputs and the outputs balance, were 68% K+, 85% Ca2+, 58% Mg2+, 7% Al3+, 5% Fe3+, 34% Zn2+, 57% Cl−, and 20% NO3−, and about 75% of dissolved organic carbon was mineralized.