With variation of drainage basin environments, desorption of soluble matter has become one of the significant erosion processes in rivers. It has a considerable impact on flow and sediment transport, as well as processes of river bed deformation and landform evolution throughout a watershed. In this study, considering influences on sediment movement, especially on cohesive sediment transport, Ca2+ and H+ were chosen as characteristic ions of soluble matter, and the total desorption quantity of Ca2+ and pH value when the desorption equilibrium is reached were employed as two indexes representing the desorption of soluble matter. By means of an indoor experiment, desorption of soluble matter as influenced by cations in static water was investigated. The results show that the total desorption quantity of soluble matter increases with the initial cation concentration until a maximum desorption quantity value is obtained and maintained. The total desorption quantity of soluble matter depends on properties of the specific cations in static water, and the stronger the affinity is between the cation and sediment surface, the higher the total desorption quantity will be. Finally, a strong approximate linear relationship between desorption quantities for different kinds of soluble matters was obtained, which means that variation of pH values can accurately reflect the desorption results of soluble matter.
