Associations with soil components are of great importance for bioavailability, toxicity, and mobility of trace metals in soils and waters. The copper(II) geochemical partitioning during the aging process within a soil sample was studied through column experiments combined with extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy to characterize the copper(II) molecular environment. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.