Charge properties of red Argentine soils as an indicator of iron oxide/clay associations

The order of the relative degree of iron oxide coating of 4 samples of red soils from north-eastern Argentina was established using the point of zero charge (PZC), yielded by potentiometric titration, and the isoelectric point (IEP), obtained from the diffusion potential. When PZC is different from IEP, the relative fraction of apparent surface coverage could be assessed from the IEP. The results obtained by the application of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and specif ic surface area, although essential to characterise the samples, did not allow us to determine the degree of iron oxide coating. Our findings show that the order of this degree is opposite to the order of the ratio of the amount of free iron oxides to that of clay in iron oxides/clay mixtures.