K – SOIL - PLANT RELATIONSHIP
Source of Nutrients
Parent material for soil formation
ROCK Determine physico-chemical
properties of soil
S
Nutrient store
Mechanical support
SOIL PLAN
T Soil forming
factor
Base
Materials for
ROCK – SOIL - PLANT
RELATIONSHIP
Welch (1995) identifies 17 elements required by
higher plants.
Nine macronutrients are normally present in
plant tissues at concentrations greater than
0.1% dry weight (C, H, O, N, K, Ca, Mg, P, S)
and eight micronutrients at concentrations of less
than 100 g -1 dry weight (B, Cl, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo,
Ni, Zn).
Some additional nutrients are required for some
plants or under particular environmental
conditions (Co, Na, Si).
Nutrients essential to plant life occur at various
concentrations in the aluminosilicate,
ferromagnesian silicate and accessory minerals of
rocks.
The aluminosilicates and ferromagnesian silicates
are major rock-forming minerals that vary in
structure and composition, and may be a primary
source of many nutrients required for plant
growth.
Ground rock has been proposed as a slow release
fertiliser for highly weathered soils .
Nutrients from ground rock released under
leaching conditions may be released at a rate
that allows them to remain in the top soil to
be utilised by plants (Coroneos et al., 1996).
Ground rock may also be used in organic
Of the nutrients that may be supplied by silicate
rock powders, K has been the most widely studied
to determine whether it can become available in
soils at rates significant for crop use.
Potential sources of K investigated include
feldspar, granite, diabase, basalt, gneiss, syenite
and amphibolite, granites, gneisses, charnokites,
dolerite and pegmatitic mica in granite and
diorite.
Other nutrients studied have included Ca, Mg and
Fe in basalt, diabase, phonolite and a lava (von
Fragstein et al., 1988), Ca, Mg and P from granite,
diabase, basalt and volcanic ash (Blum et al.,
1989a) and Mg from gneiss, syenite and
amphibolite (Baerug, 1991b).
The availability of micronutrients and trace
elements has also been investigated by von
As well as low fertility, highly weathered soils are
characterised by low pH, minimal ion-exchange
capacities, Al and Mn toxicities, P-fixation and Cu
deficiency (Leonardos et al., 1987, Chesworth et al.,
1989).
The application of silicate rock powders have been
shown to raise pH (Gillman, 1980; Hinsinger et al.,
1996) and improve ion exchange capacity (Gillman,
1980).
Blum et al. (1989b) cautiously conclude that the
potential of ground silicate rock is mostly for its
ameliorative capacity, predicting that yearly
applications of 1 ton ha-1 will improve the cation
exchange capacity and acid neutralising capacity of
extremely poor soils.
Nutrient elements (K, Ca, Mg, P, S, B, Cl, Cu, Fe, Mn,
Mo, Ni, Zn, Co, Na and Si) have diverse associations
DISTRIBUTION OF NUTRIENTS WITHIN ROCKS
AND ROCK
FORMING MINERALS
Many plant nutrient elements occur
predominantly in rocks in minor or trace
amounts of accessory minerals (e.g. S in
sulphides, P in apatite) as well as these elements
sometimes occurring as substituent within the
structures of rock-forming silicate minerals.
Almost all igneous and metamorphic rocks are
silicates.
Similarly, the dominant rock-forming minerals in
sediments are usually silicates.
All igneous and metamorphic rocks consist of
mixtures of the four major rock-forming
mineral groups; quartz, feldspars, micas and
ferromagnesian minerals.
Quartz
Most quartz contains extremely low concentrations of
plant nutrient elements other than Si.
Feldspars
most abundant igneous rock forming minerals
important sources of K, Ca and Na.
Plagioclase and orthoclase are important sources of
Ca and K in soils, and in some cases.
Orthoclase may be the largest reservoir of K.
Feldspar in rock powders may provide a slow release
source of Ca and K together with any included minor
elements.
Micas
are of special interest for plant nutrition as they may
be a major source of K, Mg, Zn and Mn (Gilkes et al.,
1972; Huang, 1989).
Biotite is a common constituent of granitic rocks
where it may contain most of the Mg and Fe,
