The soil chemistry of gallium, indium, and thallium
is not well defined, particularly with emerging evidence that these elements
have toxic properties and may influence food safety. The purpose of this
investigation was to estimate the soil concentrations of gallium, indium, and
thallium and determine if these elements have a soil chemistry like aluminum
and therefore demonstrate significant concentration correlations with aluminum.
Twenty-seven soil series were selected, and the elemental concentrations were
determined using aqua regia digestion with analytical determination performed
using inductively coupled plasma emission-mass spectroscopy. The concentrations of gallium,
indium, and thallium generally compared with the known literature.
Aluminum-gallium and aluminum-thallium exhibited significant concentration
correlations across the soil horizons of the sampled soils. Aluminum, gallium,
and thallium did demonstrate concentration increases in soil horizons having
illuviation of phyllosilicates, implying these phyllosilicates have adsorption
and isomorphic substitution behaviors involving these elements.
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