ISSN:
1573-2932
Keywords:
Pb
;
Cu
;
Zn
;
trace metal pollution
;
air pollution
;
Ap horizon
;
forest soils
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Abstract In this study, we used once-plowed lands that have returned to forest for over 50 years to study the vertical distribution of meteorologically-deposited lead. These mineral soils were an essentially homogeneous 20 cm-thick layer when last plowed. As such, they were effectively a “clean slate” upon which pollutants deposited since the last plowing can be measured without the confounding aspects of well-developed natural soil horizons and the spatial heterogeneity of native forest soils. The concentration and amount of lead as well as copper and zinc, biologically active metals, were measured at five sites in New England. In the mineral soil, copper content ranged from 25 mg cm depth-1 m-2 at 0–2 cm depth to 37 mg cm depth-1 m-2 at 6–8 cm depth, but showed no consistent pattern with depth at all sites. Zinc concentrations and amounts increased with depth in the mineral soil to 14 μg g-1 and 167 mg cm depth-1 m-2, respectively. In contrast, lead showed a decrease with depth from 350 mg cm depth-1 m-2 at 0–2 cm depth to 102–108 mg cm depth-1 m-2 between 10 and 20 cm depth. At all five sites, decreases in lead concentration with depth were correlated with decreases in the amount of organic mater. Amounts of total lead deposited since the abandonment from plowing have been estimated at 1.4 g m-2 in rural sites. Thirty-five percent of this presumably anthropogenically-derived lead was in the forest floor; the remaining 65% was in the upper mineral soil.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1026451710848
Permalink
