Organic contaminant sorption parameters should only be compared across a consistent system of linear functions.

Modeling contaminant sorption data using a linear model is very common; however, the rationale for whether the y-intercept should be constrained or not remains a subject of debate. This article justifies constraining the y-intercept in the linear model to zero. By doing so, one imposes consistency on the system of linear equations, allowing for direct comparison of the sorption coefficients.

Building geochemically based quantitative analogies from soil classification systems using different compositional datasets.

Soil heterogeneity is a major contributor to the uncertainty in near-surface biogeochemical modeling. We sought to overcome this limitation by exploring the development of a new classification analogy concept for transcribing the largely qualitative criteria in the pedomorphologically based, soil taxonomic classification systems to quantitative physicochemical descriptions. We collected soil horizons classified under the Alfisols taxonomic Order in the U.