Soil Response to Acid Deposition, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming: I. Soil Properties

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Abstract
In the western USA, alpine and subalpine ecosystems with shallow soils and large areas of rock outcrop may be particularly sensitive to damaging effects from acid precipitation, especially downwind of pollutant sources. This study was conducted to characterize the capacity of subalpine soils in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming to neutralize acid deposition through cation exchange and SO4 adsorption, and to relate buffer capacity and SO4‐adsorption isotherms to other soil properties. Although B and C horizons of one Dystric Cryochrept pedon have low exchange capacity (c kg−1) and low base saturation (4, although adsorption maxima are estimated at −1. High organic‐matter content of A horizons in Humic Cryaquepts interferes with SO4 adsorption. Buffer capacities above pH 4 average 4.00 cmol kg−1 pH−1; below pH 4, soils are more strongly buffered, averaging 18.7 cmol kg−1 pH−1. Base exchange is probably the dominant process controlling buffering above pH 4, and dissolution of Al (OH)3 controls buffering in the pH range 2.8 to 4.

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