title: Metal leaching in a highway embankment on field and laboratory scale.
abstract: Increasing worldwide motor vehicle traffic leads to the question of the possible environmental consequences. This paper aims to analyse metal leaching in a highway embankment using both field and laboratory experiments. Soil, soil solution and road runoff were collected along one of the oldest highways in the world to characterize leaching of the metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. Batch, column and adsorption experiments were carried out to study the reliability and transferability of laboratory approaches. Depending on the element, the ratio of particle-bound metals in road runoff varied between 15-90%. Metal levels in embankment soils were significantly higher compared to a reference site in a forest at 800 m distance (up a factor of 30). High metal concentrations in soil solution at 50 cm soil depth were not a direct result of road runoff but rather of elevated concentrations in the soil matrix. The use of batch S4 elution was found to be the best overall laboratory method to predict soil solution concentrations in field. Adsorption experiments showed a relative increase in retention capacity in roadside soil of up to a factor of 20 after nearly 100 years of operation. The input of alkaline dust and organic carbon into roadside soils increases its retention capacity in the long term.
authors: Department of Ecology, Soil Conservation, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst-Reuter Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: bjoern.kluge@tu-berlin.de.
authors: Björn
authors: B
authors: Kluge
authors: Department of Ecology, Soil Conservation, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst-Reuter Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: moritz.werkenthin@tu-berlin.de.
authors: Moritz
authors: M
authors: Werkenthin
authors: Department of Ecology, Soil Conservation, Technische Universität Berlin, Ernst-Reuter Platz 1, 10587 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: gerd.wessolek@tu-berlin.de.
authors: Gerd
authors: G
authors: Wessolek
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007753:Laboratories; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014186:Transportation
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Heavy metals; Highway; Particle transport; Retention; Roadside soil; Soil solution