Impacts of simulated acid rain on cation leaching from the Latosol in south China

Acid rain is a problem of increasing agricultural, environmental, and ecological concerns worldwide. This study investigated impacts of simulated acid rain (SAR) on cation leaching from the Latosol in south China. Latosol is an acidic red soil and occurs in the tropical rainforest biome. Laboratory experiments were performed by leaching the soil columns with the SAR at a pH range from 2.5 to 7.0 over a 21-day period. A linear increase in effluent K+ concentration was found at the SAR pH ⩽3.0, whereas an exponential decrease in effluent Na+ concentration was observed at all levels of the SAR pH. In general, leaching of Ca2+ and Mg2+ from the Latosol increased as the SAR pH decreased. There was a very good nonlinear correlation between the removal of soil K+ and the SAR pH (R2 = 0.91), a good nonlinear correlation between the removal of soil Mg+2 and the SAR pH (R2 = 0.83), a fairly good nonlinear correlation between the removal of soil Ca+2 and the SAR pH (R2 = 0.56), and no correlation between the removal of soil Na+ and the SAR pH (R2 = 0.06). Our study further revealed that the removal of soil cations such as K+, Ca+2, and Mg+2 can be quantified by the quadratic polynomial equations. In addition, impacts of the SAR on cation leaching depended not only on the SAR pH but also on the original soil pH.