ABSTRACT
The surface chemistry of soils is greatly influenced by the nature and properties of crystalline and noncrystalline minerals present in the soils. Soils differ widely in their specific surface, because of differences in mineralogical and organic composition and in their texture. The numerical value for a given soil or soil material depends on which experimental method is used. The significance of biological degradation in the transformations of organics in soil is well established. However, little is known about the role of soil minerals in the abiotic transformations of organics. The relative stability of a substrate toward enzymes in mixed soil microbial cultures and in pure cultures is influenced by carriers. A significant portion of immobilized enzymes in soils is associated with the humic fraction, not by adsorption or occlusion, but by the formation of enzyme-phenolic copolymers during the genesis of humic substances. Antibiotics can be deactivated through biodgradation, chemical degradation, and adsorption on minerals and organic matter in soil.
