Portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry analysis of soils

David C. Weindorf, Somsubhra Chakraborty

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

Portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) spectrometry is a proximal sensing technique whereby low-power X-rays are used to make elemental determinations in soils. The technique is rapid, portable, and provides multi-elemental analysis with results generally comparable to traditional laboratory-based techniques. Elemental data from PXRF can then be either used directly for soil parameter assessment (e.g., total Ca, total Fe) or as a proxy for predicting other soil parameters of interest (e.g., soil cation-exchange capacity [CEC], soil reaction, soil salinity) via simple or multiple linear regression. Importantly, PXRF does have some limitations that must be considered in the context of soil analysis. Those notwithstanding, PXRF has proven effective in numerous, agronomic, pedological, and environmental quality assessment applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1384-1392
Number of pages9
JournalSoil Science Society of America Journal
Volume84
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2020

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry analysis of soils'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this