This book provides an authoritative review of the principles governing some of the most important chemical reactions and behavior in soils. A major chapter on the chemistry of soil organic matter covers carbon in the environment, the genesis and fractionation of soil organic matter, isolation of humic substances, and considerations of their structural compostion, soil saccharides, and soil peptides. Other chapters explore in detail the chemistry of phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, and micronutrients in soils. Important topics include the kinetics and mechanisms involved in biogeochemical processes, cation exchange reactions, soil acidity, chemistry of redox processes, equations and models describing adsorption processes, sorption and desorption rates for neutral organic compounds, metal complexation by soil humic substances, speciation of metals in soils, chemistry of speciation of trace elements in soil solution, and the chemistry of salt-affected soils.