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- Title
Predicting the Concentration of Total Mercury in Mineral Horizons of Forest Soils Varying in Organic Matter and Mineral Fine Fraction Content.
- Authors
Gruba, Piotr; Błońska, Ewa; Lasota, Jarosław
- Abstract
The level of mercury (Hg) concentration in soils can be estimated using certain predictors such as the content of organic carbon ( C) or the fine fractions (FFs) such as silt and clay. This study was focused on the potential use of C and FF contents as the predictors of Hg concentration at the spatial meso-scale in forest soils derived from Triassic sandstones and claystones, Quaternary sands derived from weathering sandstones and Quaternary sands of fluvioglacial origin. To understand the importance of C and FF contents for Hg retention in mineral soil, the allocation of Hg in physically separated fractions of soil samples was also tested. The experiment was designed over a regular 200 × 200-m grid, where 275 plots were established. The results implied that the concentration of total Hg in mineral soil may vary by several orders of magnitude because of the natural variation in C content. The model where the C content was the only variable explained 44 % of Hg concentration variability in soil, and other significantly correlated variables were the FF content and the C/N ratio. Detailed analysis revealed that the particulate organic matter fraction accumulated more Hg per unit of C than in the organic matter associated with FF. The content of C, FF and C/N ratio allowed, for the local soils, a satisfactory prediction of the spatial distribution and the magnitude of total Hg concentration in soils.
- Subjects
MERCURY compounds; HEAVY metals; SOIL composition; SANDSTONE; TONSTEINS; SPATIAL distribution (Quantum optics)
- Publication
Water, Air & Soil Pollution, 2014, Vol 225, Issue 4, p1
- ISSN
0049-6979
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11270-014-1924-y