Measuring and simulating pH buffer capacity of calcareous soils using empirical and mechanistic models

We studied (i) the pH buffer capacity (pHBC) of calcareous soils varied widely in calcite and texture, (ii) the contribution of soil properties to pHBC and (iii) the significance of using a model based on calcite dissolution to estimate the pHBC of calcareous soils. The pHBC of soils was measured by adding several rates of HCl to soils (100–6500 mM H+ kg–1), in a 0.01 M CaCl2 background and an equilibration time of 24 h. The pHBC (mM H+ kg–1 pH−1) varied from 55 to 3383, with the mean of 1073. The pHBC of the soils was strongly correlated with soil CaCO3 equivalent (calcite) (r = 0.94), sand (r = −0.72), silt (r = 0.60), EC (r = 0.63), pH (r = 0.55), and weakly (r = 0.37) but significantly with clay content. The attained pHBC values indicated that calcite was probably the main buffer system in these soils. The chemical equilibrium model successfully predicted pH titration curves based on calcite dissolution, indicating buffering of acid inputs in the calcareous soils is dominated by calcite dissolution. The model can be used to simulate acidification of calcareous soils and to provide information for making environmental management decisions.