Phytoscreening-based assessment of mercury in soil.
This study was conducted to determine whether phytoscreening techniques could be used to characterize the distribution of Hg in soil at the South River, VA. An estimated 500 to 1000 kg of Hg was released to the South River in the 1930s and 1940s from a synthetic fiber manufacturing plant located in Waynesboro, contaminating the floodplain downstream. Under background conditions (soil Hg <0.03 μg/g), phytoscreening sample Hg concentrations ranged from 1.9 to 3.9 ng/g. With soil Hg concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 94 μg/g in the top 30.5 cm of nearby soil, phytoscreening sample Hg concentrations ranged from 5.0 to 145 ng/g. The variability of Hg concentrations in soil solution over the scale of the entire rhizosphere of the large trees sampled was likely high. Furthermore, the mean depth of water uptake and the exact proximity of the soil profile samples for each tree could not be determined. Nevertheless, the phytoscreening results of this study could be used to reliably provide a qualitative delineation of Hg-contaminated soil.
Exponent, Inc., 15375 SE 30th Place, Suite 250, Bellevue, WA, 98007, USA.
Gary
G
Bigham
Cebam, Bothell, WA, USA.
Lian
L
Liang
Environnement International, 2 ruelle du Hamet, F-60129, Orrouy, France.
Jean Christophe
JC
Balouet
Laboratoire Chrono-environnement UMR6249, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté/CNRS, F-25211, Montbéliard, France. michel.chalot@univ-fcomte.fr.|Faculté des Sciences et Technologies, Université de Lorraine, Boulevard des Aiguillettes, BP 70239, F-54506, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France. michel.chalot@univ-fcomte.fr.
Michel
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8614-0917
M
Chalot
D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D058441:Rhizosphere; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014197:Trees / Q000378:metabolism*; D014768:Virginia; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism
D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury
Combustion cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy; Mercury; Phytoscreening