ABSTRACT
Ion exchange phenomena involve the population of readily exchangeable ions, the subset of adsorbed solutes that balance the intrinsic surface charge and can be readily replaced by major background electrolyte ions (Sposito, 2008). ¤ese phenomena have occupied a central place in soil chemistry research since Way (1850) rst showed that potassium uptake by soils resulted in the release of an equal quantity of moles of charge of calcium and magnesium. Ion exchange phenomena are now routinely modeled in studies of soil formation (White et al., 2005), soil reclamation (Kopittke et al., 2006), soil fertilization (Agbenin and Yakubu, 2006), colloidal dispersion/ ¥occulation (Charlet and Tournassat, 2005), the mechanics of argillaceous media (Gajo and Loret, 2007), aquitard pore water chemistry (Tournassat et al., 2008), and groundwater (Timms and Hendry, 2007; McNab et al., 2009) and contaminant hydrology (Chatterjee et al., 2008; van Oploo et al., 2008; Serrano et al., 2009).
