Abstract In this work a method was developed for determining the mass and element-based size distributions of submicron sized soil particles. The method used field-flow fractionation (FFF) to separate the particles and inline UV and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICPAES) detectors to evaluate the mass and element concentrations in the eluent respectively. The data was used to plot strategic element molar ratios versus particle diameter which greatly simplifies interpretation of the trends in terms of soil processes. The method was tested using samples collected from the A and B horizon matrix material and cutans of the Camel Hill sand near Monarto in South Australia, a soil with strongly contrasting texture. The major findings were that the size of the clay mineral components (particles B horizon>cutans and that the mineralogy was almost identical in all soil samples. A possible implication would be that the clays in the B horizon matrix and cutans have been physically translocated from the A horizon with little chemical weathering but this does not fit the photoimages of the soil horizon. However, this study strongly indicated that the information obtained by FFF-UV-ICPAES, when combined with data derived from other analytical techniques, will be a powerful tool in understanding the mechanisms of soil formation and weathering.

中文翻译：

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将离心和流场流分馏与 ICPAES 相结合来表征土壤粘土矿物的尺寸和元素组成

摘要 在这项工作中，开发了一种用于确定亚微米级土壤颗粒的质量和基于元素的尺寸分布的方法。该方法使用场流分馏 (FFF) 来分离颗粒，并使用在线紫外和电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱 (ICPAES) 检测器分别评估洗脱液中的质量和元素浓度。该数据用于绘制战略元素摩尔比与粒径的关系，这极大地简化了对土壤过程趋势的解释。该方法使用从 A 和 B 层基质材料以及南澳大利亚莫纳托附近骆驼山沙土（一种质地对比强烈的土壤）收集的样品进行测试。主要发现是粘土矿物成分的大小（颗粒 B 层 > cutans 并且所有土壤样品的矿物学几乎相同。一个可能的含义是 B 层基质中的粘土和角质层已经从 A 层物理转移，几乎没有化学风化，但这不符合土壤层的照片图像。然而，这项研究有力地表明，FFF-UV-ICPAES 获得的信息与其他分析技术获得的数据相结合，将成为了解土壤形成和风化机制的有力工具。