DETERMINING DISPERSION OF SELECTED MOUNTAIN SOILS USING ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL DIFFERENCES IN A SYSTEM OF CONJUGATED LTCC ELECTRODES

The phenomena of colloid coagulation and peptization have a significant role in the circulation of elements in the surface layer of lithosphere, and in particular in the soil environment. Thanks to their structural properties, the mineral, mineral-organic and organic colloids that occur in colloidal systems largely influence the entire processes leading to erosion. The majority of issues related to the intensification of migration soil colloids and ions in the lithosphere are related to their electrokinetic properties. An attempt has been made in this paper to determine the dispersion state of soil colloidal systems exposed to water erosion by measuring the difference of electrical potentials generated in the gravimetric sedimentation process of colloidal particles. Preliminary results make it plausible to claim that, depending on the quantity and quality of ions in soil solutions and on the qualitative and quantitative composition of colloids, the potential difference determined using measurement electrodes is proportional to the electrokinetic potential of the particles. Such measurements can be carried out in the field. The suggested method is based on recording the difference in potentials with a conjugated measurement electrode, which enables determination of the state of soil colloidal dispersion in the biochemical processes, which occur in the surface layers of the lithosphere.