The spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements in the mountain forest topsoils (the Silesian Beskids, southern Poland)

Abstract

Progressive industrialisation and urbanisation in recent decades have dramatically affected the soil cover and led to significant changes in its properties, which inevitably affect the functioning of other components of the forest ecosystems. The total content of Pb, Cd, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni, As, and Hg was studied in twenty-five plots at different heights in the topsoil (organic and humus horizons) formed from the Carpathian flysch in the area of the Silesian Beskids (Western Carpathians). The aim of this article is to analyse the spatial distribution of potentially toxic elements in the mountain forest topsoil in different types of plant communities and to determine the relationship between altitude and potentially toxic elements contamination. The soils studied are acidic or very acidic, with an average range of 3.8 (H2O) and 2.9 (KCl). Concentrations of the metals Cd, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Hg on the plots that were analysed are within the range of permissible standards for forest ecosystems in Poland, while Pb and As exceed the permissible standards for this type of ecosystem. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient showed a high correlation between Fe–Cr (r(32) = 0.879, Pb-Hg r(32) = 0.772, Ni–Cr r(32) = 0.738, Zn-Cd r(32) = 0.734, and Cu-Hg r(32) = 0.743, and a moderate statistically significant positive correlation between Cu-Pb r(32) = 0.667 and As-Pb r(32) = 0.557. No correlation was found between altitude and the occurrence of potentially toxic elements. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) index, on the other hand, indicates that Pb, As, and Cd have the highest impact on soil contamination in all study plots: it classifies soils from moderately to strongly polluted. The enrichment factor (EF) obtained for As and Hg indicates significant-to-very high enrichment in all areas studied. The potential ecological risk index (PLI) calculated for the sites indicates the existence of pollution in all areas examined. The highest risk categories (considerable to very high) are associated with cadmium and mercury.

Impacts of Power Transmission and Distribution on Trace Metals Loads in Soils, <i>Telfairia Occidentalis</i> and Related Human Health Problems in South-South, Nigeria

“…This shows that the PERI of the entire location was in the significantly very high-risk category, according to Al-Anbari et al [46]. This is consistent with the results of PERI recorded by Essien et al [98], Mugoša et al [99], and Rahmonov et al [100] in their studies. The obtained results of PERI also confirmed the toxic nature of metals determined in the studied locations, as reported by Okon et al [2].…”

Non-Lethal Assessment of Land Use Change Effects in Water and Soil of Algerian Riparian Areas along the Medjerda River through the Biosentinel Bufo spinosus Daudin

“…EF estimates the amount of a given HM derived from human activities by comparing the specific metal in the sample with an uncontaminated background after normalization with Fe [49]. The formula is reported in the Equation ( 2): CF describes the degree of the contamination in HMs related to background levels as reported in the following Equation (3) [50,51]:…”

Variability of Concentrations of Potentially Toxic Metals in the Topsoil of Urban Forest Parks (Southern Poland)

“…The statistical significance of the Spearman correlation coefficient data was determined using the Spearman rank correlation test. The exact values of the correlation coefficient were calculated for alpha = 0.001, 0.01 and 0.05 [13,60]. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistics software (version 18).…”