Edward Tipping works at the Natural Environment Research Council Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Cumbria, England, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Lancaster. After receiving his PhD from the University of Manchester in 1973, he spent five years at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School researching cancer biochemistry. He has spent short periods in laboratories in Finland, Sweden, the USA, Norway and the Netherlands, and published over 120 papers in international journals.

'I wholeheartedly recommend the book to all workers in the field.' John Hamilton-Taylor, Chemistry and Industry

• 1. Introduction; 2. Humic substances - a brief review; 3. Environmental solution and surface chemistry; 4. Proton dissociation from weak acids; 5. Metal-ligand interactions; 6. Methods for measuring cation binding by humic substances; 7. Quantitative results with isolated humic substances; 8. Cation binding sites in humic substances; 9. Parameterised models of cation-humic interactions; 10. Applications of comprehensive parameterised models; 11. Predictive modelling; 12. Cation-humic binding and other physico-chemical processes; 13. Cation binding by humic substances in natural waters; 14. Cation binding by humic substances in soils and sediments; 15. Research needs.