The solubility of Cd in contaminated paddy soils controls Cd uptake by rice, which is an important food safety issue. We investigated the solution and solid-phase dynamics of Cd in a paddy soil spiked with ∼20 mg kg(-1) Cd during 40 days of soil reduction followed by 28 days of soil reoxidation as a function of the amounts of sulfate available for microbial reduction and of Cu that competes with Cd for precipitation with biogenic sulfide. At an excess of sulfate over (Cd + Cu), dissolved Cd decreased during sulfate reduction and Cd was transformed into a poorly soluble phase identified as Cd-sulfide using Cd K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The extent of Cd-sulfide precipitation decreased with decreasing sulfate and increasing Cu contents, even if sulfate exceeded Cd. When both Cu and Cd exceeded sulfate, dissolved and mobilizable Cd remained elevated after 40 days of soil reduction. During soil reoxidation, Cd-sulfide was readily transformed back into more soluble species. Our data suggest that Cd-sulfide formation in flooded paddy soil may be limited when the amounts of Cd and other chalcophile metals significantly exceed reducible sulfate Therefore, in multimetal contaminated paddy soils with low sulfate contents, Cd may remain labile during soil flooding, which enhances the risk for Cd transfer into rice.

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Natural organic matter (NOM) exerts strong influence on copper speciation and bioavailability in soils and aquatic systems. In redox-dynamic environments, electron transfer reactions between copper and redox-active moieties of NOM may trigger Cu(I) and Cu(0) formation. To date, little is known about Cu-NOM redox interactions and Cu(I) binding to NOM. Here, we present X-ray absorption spectroscopy results on copper redox transformations upon addition of Cu(II) or Cu(I) to untreated and electrochemically reduced soil humic acid (HA) under oxic and anoxic conditions. Both untreated and reduced HA mediated copper redox transformations. Under anoxic conditions, Cu(II) and Cu(I) added to reduced HA were primarily complexed and thereby stabilized as Cu(I)-HA at low loadings, whereas high copper loadings resulted in the additional formation of Cu(0) nanoparticles (16-64% of total copper). Cu(I) bound to HA was predominantly 2-fold coordinated and to a lower extent 3- to 4-fold coordinated, with a contribution of at least one nitrogen and/or sulfur ligand group. Under oxic conditions, Cu(II)-HA complexes prevailed, but smaller fractions of copper were also stabilized as Cu(I)-HA in a 3- to 4-fold coordination. Our results show that Cu-HA redox interactions are strongly affected by binding of Cu(II) and Cu(I) to HA and that HA contributes to the stabilization of Cu(I) against disproportionation.

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Cation binding and electron transfer reactions of humic substances determine copper speciation in redox-dynamic systems, but quantitative studies for Cu+ binding to humic substances are lacking. We investigated reduction of Cu2+ and binding of Cu+ at pH 7.0 in a dialysis cell experiment using reduced and reoxidized soil humic acid (HA) as reductant and sorbent at copper loadings of 9.5-600 mmol kg(-1). The data were used to quantitatively explain the interaction between cation binding and electron transfer processes that determine copper speciation in the presence of HA under anoxic and oxic conditions. Addition of Cu2+ to reduced HA resulted in almost complete reduction to Cu(I) within 1 h. Reduction was also significant under oxic conditions. The slow decrease of the Cu(I) fraction was attributed to formation of Cu(0) based on thermodynamic consideration. Cu+ binding to HA was found to be strong compared to other chalcophile cations like Ag+ or Cd2+. Our results indicate that Cu+ and Cu2+ isotherms exhibit a redox potential-dependent intersection point. According to the differences in Cu+ and Cu2+ binding, the presence of HA was found to extend the stability field of Cu(II) to moderately reducing conditions and to reduce the stability field of Cu(0) due to the formation of Cu(I) complexes.