Scale-Dependent Variability of As and Heavy Metals in a River Elbe Floodplain

Abstract

Over decades the River Elbe has been one of the worst polluted major rivers of Europe and polluted sediment was deposited spatially differently in its floodplains. The spatial variability of total As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations and fractions of sequentially extracted Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn were determined in soil samples taken at different length scales in the floodplain Schönberg meadow (stream km 436-440). Within a flood channel the low spatial variability of total As and heavy metal concentrations at depth of 0-10 cm (relative standard deviation (RSD) <30%) did not increase with expanding sampling distances from 1 to 28 m. The variation in the total As and heavy metal concentrations (RSD up to 130%) and in the NH 4 NO 3 -extracted heavy metals (RSD up to 320%) increased substantially in the floodplain at longer distances between points (30-3000 m). Close correlations between the concentration of metals in sequentially extracted fractions and basic soil properties (C org , N, S, Fe, and Mn) within a topographic structure indicated their suitability to estimate the potential phytoremediation success and determined the ''status quo'' at the beginning of a phytoremediation experiment.

Exploiting biogeochemical and spectroscopic techniques to assess the geochemical distribution and release dynamics of chromium and lead in a contaminated floodplain soil

“…The mobile fraction (MF; F1þF2) of Pb was the smallest fraction (Table 1), as previously reported by Zimmer et al (2011) and Rinklebe and Shaheen (2014), likely due to the predominant presence of Pb in the residual, organic, and Fe/Mn-oxide fractions. However, the association of Pb with FeeMn (hydr)oxides may increase its potential mobility because Pb associated with oxides is likely to be released when the oxides dissolved under reducing or acid conditions.…”

“…However, it is insufficient to use the total content of PTMs in soil for an environmental risk assessment because the mobility of PTMs depends on their binding forms (Pueyo et al, 2008;Rinklebe and Shaheen, 2014). Therefore, determining the geochemical fractions of PTMs is appropriate to assess their potential mobility and pollution status in soils and it is therefore a key issue in many environmental studies Zimmer et al, 2011). Chemical extraction procedures have been extensively employed to determine elemental distribution among the geochemical fractions in contaminated soils (Pueyo et al, 2008;Shaheen and Rinklebe, 2014).…”

Detecting heavy metal pollution of floodplain vegetation in a pot experiment using reflectance spectroscopy

“…The Elbe River is one of the most polluted major rivers of Europe. Many investigations into the flood events and soil pollution involving this river have been conducted (Ockenfeld et al 2005, Krüger et al 2006, Schulz-Zunkel and Krueger 2009, Rupp et al 2010, Zimmer et al 2011, Baborowski et al 2012, Zachmann et al 2013. The Elbe River is an example of a catchment with old industrial and mine sites, which have caused polluted or contaminated river sediments.…”

Structure of 0+ juvenile fish assemblages in the modified upper stretch of the River Elbe, Czech Republic

“…Over recent decades, the Elbe has become one of the worst polluted major rivers in Europe (Zimmer et al, 2011). For this reason, the Elbe has been the subject of interest for many scientific surveys primarily focused on water pollution and risk to humans associated with consumption of contaminated fish (e.g.…”