The adsorption and desorption of three volatile organic compounds (1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,2- trichloroethane and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane) from a previously uncontaminated clayey soil sample from a Superfund site in North Baton Rouge, Louisiana was studied. In the linear range of the adsorption isotherm, the partition constants were not affected by the presence of the co-solutes. The adsorption isotherms over a wide concentration range on the soil followed the nonlinear Freundlich isotherm. The desorption of the compounds showed significant hysteresis at all concentrations studied. Approximately 20 to 70% of the adsorbed mass of organic compounds resisted the desorption even after five months of successive desorption steps. The desorption of four compounds (1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane, 1,4-dichlorobenzene and hexachlorobutadiene) from a contaminated soil sample from the same site was also studied. The aqueous concentration declined as the successive desorption steps progressed. For hexachlorobutediene the desorption can be visualized as occurring in two stages. The first stage involved a 'loosely bound' or 'reversible' fraction and the second stage involved a 'tightly bound' or 'resistant' fraction.