Based on our field experiments, we considered whether CCl4, CH3CCl3, CCl3F (F-11), CCl2F2 (F-12) and C2Cl3F3 (F-113) are removed by soils at the earth's surface. We found that the rate of removal is greatest for CCL4, moderate for CH3CCl3 and F-11, slight for F-12 and not significant for F-113. By removing these gases from the atmosphere, before they can reach the stratosphere, such processes may prevent some depletion of the ozone layer from the continued releases of these man-made chlorocarbons. Because of the enormous variability, credible estimates of the global magnitude of the soild sink cannot be obtained from the present data. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1989