It also has a high cation-exchange capacity, which also supports the larger biomass.

These are the values reported by Carroll (1959) for the cation-exchange capacity of minerals in meq.

The term "active" represents a ratio of the cation-exchange capacity to clay of the pedon.

The attenuation of heavy metals (or the taking up of metals by plants) can depend on clay content and cation-exchange capacity.

Closely related to cation-exchange capacity is the base saturation, which is the fraction of exchangeable cations that are base cations (Ca, Mg, K and Na).

Soil acidity or soil pH and cation-exchange capacity: Root cells act as hydrogen pumps and the surrounding concentration of hydrogen ions affects their ability to absorb nutrients.

Cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is the amount of exchangeable cations per unit weight of dry soil and is expressed in terms of milliequivalents of hydrogen ion per 100 grams of soil.

In soil science, cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is the maximum quantity of total cations, of any class, that a soil is capable of holding, at a given pH value, available for exchange with the soil solution.

Thus, a soil with high cation-exchange capacity takes longer time to acidify (as well as to recover from an acidified status) than a soil with a low cation-exchange capacity (assuming similar base saturations).