Five soil samples in different depths of a site in the close vicinity of a Wuhan iron and steel factory (Core 1) were collected. One uncontaminated soil profile (Core 2) was taken for reference purpose. The soil arsenic content and speciation vertical distribution patterns were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, and BCR sequential extraction protocol. The results showed that the arsenic content in Core 1 was remarkably higher than Core 2 in same depth, which indicated that microbial communities were very sensitively to indicate arsenic distribution and toxicity. Additionally, principal component analyses also revealed that the arsenic exchangeable fraction play an important role to indicate arsenic ecotoxicity in mining soil and sediment.
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