Distribution and Speciation of Trace Elements in Soils of Four Land-Use Systems

Farid Ul Haque, Faridullah Faridullah (), Muhammad Irshad, Aziz-Ur-Rahim Bacha (), Zahid Ullah, Muhammad Fawad, Farhan Hafeez, Akhtar Iqbal, Rashid Nazir, Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei and Mikhlid H. Almutairi
Additional contact information
Farid Ul Haque: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Faridullah Faridullah: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Muhammad Irshad: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Aziz-Ur-Rahim Bacha: State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
Zahid Ullah: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Muhammad Fawad: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Farhan Hafeez: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Akhtar Iqbal: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Rashid Nazir: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei: Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mikhlid H. Almutairi: Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Land use has a greater impact on trace element (TE) concentration present in soils. In mountainous regions of the western Himalayas, some dominating geogenic and human-dependent anthropogenic factors are involved in the spatial distribution of TEs in various land uses. Soil samples were collected from permafrost, pasture, forest, and agricultural land-use systems of Babusar Valley and Fairy Meadows in Diamer districts and the Rama region in Astore Districts in replications for investigation of three TEs, i.e., copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni). These samples were analyzed for exchangeable, adsorbed, organically bound, carbonate precipitated, and residual forms. Significant differences among these TEs were observed. Differences in the levels of TEs within soil samples were observed to be influenced by land usage patterns. The physicochemical properties of soil samples were also investigated. Additionally, the total metals (Ni, Zn, Cu) were extracted and their concentrations were measured in all samples. The concentration of soil TEs was observed in the following order: adsorbed < organically bound < exchangeable < residual < carbonate precipitated form across all the land uses. The results indicate that the contents of TEs (Ni, Zn, Cu) in agricultural soils were greater than in the permafrost pasture and forest soil samples. The total TE concentration varied as Zn > Ni > Cu irrespective of the area and land uses. We believe this work will open avenues for researchers to explore TEs in various regions of the world.

Keywords: trace elements; permafrost soils; pasture soils; forest soils; agricultural soils (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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