Application of Microprobe Analysis to the Study of Phosphorus in Soils

A DEFINITIVE and important characteristic of soil is its heterogeneity in fabric. This is evident in the great variety of spatial arrangements of components that have been established by the microscopic study of soil in thin section1. Chemical methods of soil analysis, however, usually involve the homogenization of soil material and therefore the destruction of its fabric by drying, sieving and representative sampling. Microchemical and mineralogical analysis of undisturbed soil fabric, on a scale comparable with the smallest recognizable components (that is, at least at the micron level), is therefore desirable to complement the existing chemical approach.