soils and bedrock two solution conditions are known to decrease the stability of fe edta and fe dtpa i e their tendency to form soluble fe chelates in basic solutions the solubility of iron is controlled by amorphous ferric iron hydroxide which precipitates and diminishes the stability of fe edta and fe dtpa complexes calcium at high solution concentrations competes with iron for chelates fe dtpa and more so fe eddha chelates are less affected by these solution conditions than fe edta chelates the present invention utilizes an oxidation reaction where a chelated metal preferably chelated iron catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to yield hydroxyl perhydroxyl and superoxide radicals as such the reagent fluid should contain only an effective amount of metal catalyst i e not an excessive amount of catalyst to cause an undesirable detectable increase in the decomposition rate of the peroxide for safety and stability reasons the soluble fe edta fe dtpa and fe eddha chelates react with hydrogen peroxide to yield these highly reactive radicals which in turn react with organic compounds the rate of oxidation reaction with fe ii aminocarboxylate complexes including fe ii edta fe ii dtpa and fe i eddha complexes is greater by orders of magnitude than the rate of oxidation reaction with fe aquo complexes in solutions with near neutral ph fe ii and fe iii chelates are part.