Tarnita Polluted Area: Accumulation of Heavy Metals and Nutrients from the Soil by Woody Species

Abstract

Heavy metals are destructive environmental stressors that greatly reduce plant growth and productivity. Here, the content of some heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn) and mineral nutrients (Ca, Mg and K) in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) wood from two sites in the Tarni�a mining area (North-Est Romania) was analyzed. The first site (no. 1) is located near a big tailings dump, whereas the other one (no. 2) is situated 6 km South, in a less polluted area. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the present-date levels of such elements in the investigated biological materials and to compare them. Measurements of heavy metal content in wood were performed with an AAS flame spectrometer, whereas an ICP-OES spectrometer was used for soil and tailings dump samples. The Mn content was higher in the site no. 1 located near the dump, for both species, but the difference was statistically significant only for the European beech trees. The Zn content of samples from the site no. 1 was lower than that corresponding to the second one (no. 2) for both species, but significant for the silver fir only. However, there was not found a significant difference in respect to both iron and copper in the samples collected from the two species and two different sites. Furthermore, the content of Ca and Mg of both species was found higher for the site no. 2, suggesting a better state of nutrition of the investigated trees than of those located near the tailings dump. The content of calcium and magnesium of silver fir was negatively correlated with the diameter of the trees collected from both sites.

Impact of Industrial Pollution on Radial Growth of Conifers in a Former Mining Area in the Eastern Carpathians (Northern Romania)

“…In order to highlight the level of pollution intensity on the silver fir and Norway spruce stands in the Tarnit , a area, the 30 plots were located spatially at different distances from the main source of pollution. Taking into account previous research [19,20], in which several stands located at different distances from the source of pollution were analyzed and it was concluded that the 2 km length was the approximate distance to and from which the stands were affected by pollution to varying degrees of intensity, we tested this hypothesis and we considered in this study that intensively polluted stands are located at a maximum distance of 2 km from the main source of pollution, moderately polluted stands are located between 2 and 6 km and largely unpolluted stands are located at a distance greater than 6 km. Thus, based on the results obtained in these studies, in order to test our hypothesis, we considered these distances as limits between different pollution intensities.…”

Accumulation of heavy metals in soil and litter of roadside plantations in Western Polissia of Ukraine

“…Normal amounts of copper and zinc have a positive effect on the biological resistance of plants to low and high temperatures and soil salinity. Copper can, to some extent, affect the uptake of nitrogen by plants, and zinc enhances the growth and development of the root system and is important for plant fruiting processes (Skarlyna-Ufimtseva 1980; Barbieri 2016; Iacoban et al 2019).…”

Absorption Capacity of Heavy Metals in the Case of Typha Latifolia Plant Species

“…Thus, heavy metals with concentration levels in the soil higher than 0,1 % become toxic for plants, altering the structure of the plant community in a polluted habitat [3,8,9,22,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”