Soils are the reservoirs of major, trace, and micro-nutrient elements.
Determination of total metal content is important not only for geochemical application,
but also for agriculture and environmental protection of living organisms.
Determination of the total metal content is of interest for investigation of their mobility
through the layers of soil, bioavailability for plant uptake, and animal/human
consumption. In this chapter analytical techniques for analysis of metals from the soil
samples are discussed. Quantitative analysis of the soil samples with fast and effective
instrumental techniques such as atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), flame atomic
absorption spectroscopy (F-AAS), graphite furnace or thermoelectric atomic absorption
spectroscopy (GF-AAS, ET-AAS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), neutron
activation analysis (NAA), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) are described for the
application in soil analysis. The pretreatment methods and basic procedures for
separation of different elements, such as sequential and selective extraction, as well as
novel extraction techniques have been highlighted. The different instrumental
techniques, used for the characterization of metal ions, have been examined in terms of
their limits, accuracy, reproducibility, and precision.
Keywords: AAS, Analytical techniques in soil analysis, Chemical analysis of metals and metalloids, ICP, NAA, Soil, XRF.
