Mercury vertical and horizontal concentrations in agricultural soils of a historically contaminated site: Role of soil properties, chemical loading, and cultivated plant species in driving its mobility

Morosini, Cristiana; Terzaghi, Elisa; Raspa, G.; Zanardini, Elisabetta; Anelli, Simone; Armiraglio, Stefano; Petranich, Elisa; Covelli, Stefano; Guardo, Antonio Di

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117467

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…From the vertical distribution results, the THg is mainly concentrated in the soil surface, showing a continuous decrease trend of THg content with the increase of soil depth. This is similar to studies in other studys (Tomiyasu et al, 2017(Tomiyasu et al, , 2020Lazareva et al, 2019;Morosini et al, 2021). Although there are slight differences in the surface content of soil MeHg, it has a similar trend with the increase of depth, and both reach a peak at a depth of 40cm.…”

Section: Effects Of Different Soil Types On Distribution Of Thg and M...supporting

confidence: 91%

“…It poses a serious threat to the ecosystem and human health in the regional and global scope. It has been listed as one of the top ten chemical substances of public health concern by the World Health Organization (Morosini et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2018). Mercury mainly exists in the form of Hg 0 , Hg 2+ , and organic Hg in the environment, among which methylmercury (MeHg) is the most harmful to human body.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distribution and differences of soil mercury and methylmercury affected by coal mining activities

Chen

Zheng

Liu

et al. 2022

Preprint

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In some coal mining areas, the soil will gradually sink and collapse due to underground gouging and form water areas with rainfall, and the mercury and methylmercury accumulated in the soil will enter the water environment and become potential mercury pollutants source. Therefore, in order to understand the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of mercury in soil under the influence of coal mining activities, total mercury and methylmercury in the soil of subsidence areas located in Huainan, China with different subsidence years were collected and tested. The results show that longer the subsidence years in the soils of different mining areas, lower the methylmercury and mercury methylation rate. In the same mining area, the methylmercury and mercury methylation in the soil will slowly increase with the subsidence time. The total mercury and methylmercury in cultivated soil around the mining area are only close to half of the uncultivated topsoil. The total mercury in farmland soil is mainly concentrated in the topsoil. At the same time, the total mercury continues to decrease with the increase of soil depth. The methylmercury in different farmland soils has a similar trend of methylmercury with the increase of depth, and all peak at the same depth. We find that the main reason is that soil subsidence affects the distribution of soil particle size in depth and then affects the internal structure of soil. This research can provide reference materials for future research on the methylation reaction of mercury in the bottom sediments of subsidence waters.

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Section: Effects Of Different Soil Types On Distribution Of Thg and M...supporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution and differences of soil mercury and methylmercury affected by coal mining activities

Chen

Zheng

Liu

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…The field thus is clearly a source of GEM to the local atmosphere. The GEM concentrations measured at 5 cm above the studied field are superimposed on a map of Hg soil concentrations (Morosini et al., 2021) in Figure 6b. The spatial patterns in air and soil are fairly aligned in the Western and central part of the field.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… (a) Measured vertical gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentration gradients at labeled sampling sites A, B, and C, and (b) measured GEM gradients shown in the (circles) above modeled distribution of soil mercury concentrations in Brescia (Morosini et al., 2021). …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using Passive Air Samplers to Quantify Vertical Gaseous Elemental Mercury Concentration Gradients Within a Forest and Above Soil

et al. 2021

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Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), the primary form of mercury (Hg) in the atmosphere, can undergo bidirectional exchange with the Earth's surface, with uptake in growing vegetation constituting the dominant atmospheric deposition process. Whereas direction and magnitude of this exchange can be determined using micrometeorological and chamber techniques, these approaches are complex, costly and labor‐intensive, and often only yield fluxes over relatively short time‐scales at few sites. We demonstrate that an inexpensive and easy‐to‐use passive air sampler can identify and quantify vertical GEM concentration gradients on scales ranging from centimeters to tens of meters over long time periods (up to 1.5 years) and with coarse temporal resolution (monthly to seasonally). Samplers were deployed above clean and contaminated soil and through a deciduous forest canopy at two sites in Southern Ontario. Significant and seasonally variable gradients of GEM concentrations, both increasing and decreasing with height above ground, were observed and can be explained through the influence of factors such as soil contamination, canopy growth, temperature, solar irradiance, and snow cover. At a minimum, the sampler can identify the GEM flux direction, but, when combined with the Modified Bowen Ratio method, can also be used to estimate the evaporative GEM flux from mercury‐contaminated soil. We further demonstrate the application of the approach to contaminated site assessment, using a field in Brescia, Italy, known to contain elevated levels of Hg in soil. By allowing for cost‐effective measurements at multiple sites and over extended time periods, passive sampling complements existing techniques for studying atmosphere‐surface exchange of GEM.

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Evaluation of soil arsenic pollution and phytoaccumulation capabilities of 24 indigenous plant species in Barak Valley, South Assam, India

Barhai,

Das

2023

Environmental Quality Mgmt

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This study investigated the concentrations of arsenic (As) in soil and plant biomass from the Barak Valley in South Assam, India. Soil samples showed concentrations ranging from 6.06 ± 0.84 mg/kg to 18.61 ± 1.52 mg/kg, with an average of 10.60 ± 3.15 mg/kg, 41.67% of the sample exceeding uncontaminated ranges (0.1–10 mg/kg). Ecological risk assessments such as contamination factors, pollutant load index, geo‐accumulation index, and anthropogenicity identified varying contamination levels across sampling points. A total of 24 plant species were collected, ferns (two species), shrubs (five species), grass (six species), and herb (11 species). The concentration of As in different plants types decreased in the order of fern (393.45 ± 159.63 mg/kg) > shrub (20.48 ± 7.25 mg/kg) > herb (17.92 ± 13.75 mg/kg) > grass (14.98 ± 13.80 mg/kg). Plant species, namely Pityrogramma calomelanos, Christella dentata, Mimosa pudica, Chromolaena odorata, Leucas aspera, Persicaria decipiens, Melastoma malabathricum, and Clerodendrum infortunatum, accumulated higher concentrations of As in their above‐ground parts compared to roots and were categorized as tolerant accumulators (TF > 1). By incorporating these plant species into phytoextraction strategies, the region can benefit from their unique properties and abilities to effectively remediate arsenic‐contaminated sites, ultimately improving the affected areas' environmental and human health conditions.

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Mercury vertical and horizontal concentrations in agricultural soils of a historically contaminated site: Role of soil properties, chemical loading, and cultivated plant species in driving its mobility

Cited by 23 publications

References 51 publications

Distribution and differences of soil mercury and methylmercury affected by coal mining activities

Distribution and differences of soil mercury and methylmercury affected by coal mining activities

Using Passive Air Samplers to Quantify Vertical Gaseous Elemental Mercury Concentration Gradients Within a Forest and Above Soil

Evaluation of soil arsenic pollution and phytoaccumulation capabilities of 24 indigenous plant species in Barak Valley, South Assam, India

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