Abstract
Eight soils in Manitoba, varying in texture, Great Soil Group and Subgroup, and amount of clay movement were analyzed for concentration of HNO3 + HClO4-extractable Zn, Fe, Al and Mn and percent sand, silt and clay. Soils were categorized into three textural groups, coarse, medium to fine and very fine. Statistical analyses were conducted to investigate the inherent associations between concentration of native Zn and concentrations of Fe, Al and Mn as well as sand, silt and clay contents for each textural group independently. Native soil Zn concentration was highly correlated with HNO3 + HClO4-extractable concentrations of Fe (r = 0.80, 0.89 and 0.90 for coarse, medium to fine and very fine-textured soils, respectively) and Al (r = 0.68, 0.79 and 0.81 for coarse, medium to fine and very fine-textured soils, respectively) and with clay content (r = 0.69, 0.64 and 0.82 for coarse, medium to fine and very fine-textured soils, respectively). Significant correlation between Zn concentration and clay content likely resulted from Fe and Al oxides coatings on silicate clays and from a large proportion of free Fe and Al oxides being clay-size. Correlation between Zn and Mn concentration was not significant for medium to fine and very fine-textured soils and was significant at only 5% level for coarse-textured soils. Large quantities of Zn (45–71% of HNO3 + HClO4-extractable Zn) were extracted along with the amorphous and organic complexed Fe and Al from four other Manitoba soils indicating, once again, that Zn was in some manner associated with oxides of Fe and Al in Manitoba soils.