Concentrations of Available Heavy Metals in Mediterranean Agricultural Soils and their Relation with Some Soil Selected Properties: A Case Study in Typical Mediterranean Soils

José Rato Nunes, José Ramos-Miras, António Lopez-Piñeiro, Luís Loures, Carlos Gil, José Coelho and Ana Loures
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José Rato Nunes: Unidade de Investigação em Química Ambiental (UIQA), Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa 1340-017, Portugal
José Ramos-Miras: Escuela Politécnica Superior, Departamento de Agromia, Área de Química Agrícola, Universidad de Almería, Almeria 04120, Spain
António Lopez-Piñeiro: Department of Edaphology, Universidad da Extremadura, Badajoz 06071, Spain
Luís Loures: Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Praça do Municipio, Portalegre 7300, Portugal
Carlos Gil: Escuela Politécnica Superior, Departamento de Agromia, Área de Química Agrícola, Universidad de Almería, Almeria 04120, Spain
José Coelho: Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa 1340-017, Portugal
Ana Loures: Instituto Politécnico de Portalegre, Praça do Municipio, Portalegre 7300, Portugal

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: The characterization of the content of trace metals in soils is an instrument in many programs of environmental protection, including the establishment of regional-level standards to detect sites affected by contamination. The objectives of the present study were to study the available levels of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in surface horizons of agricultural soils in a typical European Mediterranean region, to establish the geochemical baseline concentration (GBC), background level (BL), and reference value (RV) of each of these available metals, and to investigate their possible correlations with soil properties. To establish the GBC and RV values, we used the “standard threshold method”. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected from 630 sites, and extracted with Diethylene Triamine Pentaacetic Acid (DTPA) to determine their available heavy metal concentrations. The GBC values established were: 0.04 to 0.90 mg kg −1 , 0.70 to 2.50 mg kg −1 , 0.10 to 6.30 mg kg −1 , 0.30 to 7.90 mg kg −1 , 0.29 to 4.50 mg kg −1 , and 0.18 to 2.50 mg kg −1 for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, respectively. Soil properties were found to be correlated with the available heavy metal content, suggesting that the enhanced mobility of heavy metals are related to anthropic activities.

Keywords: available heavy metals; Mediterranean agricultural soils; DTPA; geochemical baseline concentrations; reference values (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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