Pedosphere - Atmosphere

Atmosphere

In the pedosphere it is safe to assume that gases are in equilibrium with the atmosphere. Because plant roots and soil microbes release CO2 to the soil, the concentration of bicarbonate(HCO3) in soil waters is much greater than that in equilibrium with the atmosphere, the high concentration of CO2 and the occurrence of metals in soil solutions results in lower pH levels in the soil. Gases that escape from the pedosphere to the atmosphere include the gaseous byproducts of carbonate dissolution, decomposition, redox reactions and microbial photosynthesis. The main inputs from the atmosphere are aeolian sedimentation, rainfall and gas diffusion. Eolian sedimentation includes anything that can be entrained by wind or that stays suspended, seemingly indefinitely, in air and includes a wide variety of aerosol particles, biological particles like pollen and dust to pure quartz sand. Nitrogen is the most abundant constituent in rain (after water), as water vapor utilizes aerosol particles to nucleate rain droplets.

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Famous quotes containing the word atmosphere:

    “And so I look on those sentiments which make the glory of the human being, love, humility, faith, as being also the intimacy of Divinity in the atoms; and, that, as soon as the man is right, assurances and previsions emanate from the interior of his body and his mind; as, when flowers reach their ripeness, incence exhales from them, and, as a beautiful atmosphere is generated from the planet by the averaged emanations from all its rocks and soils.”
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