The importance of high- and low-affinity surface sites for cadmium and lead adsorption in typical European and Asian soils was investigated. Adsorption experiments on surface and deep horizons of acidic brown (Vosges, France) and red loess soils (Hunan. China) were performed at 25 degrees C as a function of the pH (3.5-8) and a large range of metal concentrations in solution (10(-)9-10(-4) moll(-1)). We studied the adsorption kinetics using a Cd2+-selective electrode and desorption experiments as a function of the solid/solution ratio and pH. At a constant solution pH, all samples exhibited similar maximal adsorption capacities (4.0 +/- 0.5 mu mol/g Cd and 20 +/- 2 mu mol/g Pb). A constant slope of adsorbed-dissolved concentration dependence was valid over 5 orders of magnitude of metal concentrations. Universal Langmuir and Freundlich equations and the SCM formalism described the adsorption isotherms and the pH-dependent adsorption edge over very broad ranges of metal concentrations, indicating no high- or low-affinity sites for metal binding at the soil surface under these experimental conditions. At pH 5. Cd and Pb did not compete, in accordance with the SCM. The metal adsorption ability exceeded the value for soil protection by two orders of magnitude, but only critical load guarantees soil protection since metal toxicity depends on metal availability. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.