Basic soils and acid rain

Acid rain is a problem arising from sulfur dioxide air pollution mainly due to the burning of coal. This rainwater can have severely detrimental effects on vegetation and soils. Luckily some soils can counteract the effects of acid rain if their basic enough. Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) is the main detrimental component of acid rain. Soils with a high CEC (basic soils) can remove the hydrogen ions from sulfuric acid, effectively neutralizing acidic rainwater before it arrives in streams and aquifers. The unfortunate result of this reaction is that there are less cations in the soil available as vegetative nutrients. So while water is protected, the process is still detrimental to soils.