Availability of Arsenic, Copper, Lead, Thallium, and Zinc to Various Vegetables Grown in Slag‐Contaminated Soils

Abstract

To anticipate a possible hazard resulting from the plant uptake of metals from slag-contaminated soils, it is useful to study whether vegetables exist that are able to mobilize a given metal in the slag to a larger proportion than in an uncontaminated control soil. For this purpose, we studied the soil to plant transfer of arsenic, copper, lead, thallium, and zinc by the vegetables bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. 'dwarf bean Modus'), kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes L.), mangold (Beta vulgaris var. macrorhiza ), lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. 'American gathering brown'), carrot (Daucus carota L. 'Rotin', 'Sperlings's'), and celery [Apium graveiolus var. dulce (Mill.) Pers.] from a control soil (Ap horizon of a Entisol) and from a contaminated soil (1:1 soil-slag mixtures). Two types of slags were used: an iron-rich residue from pyrite (FeS2) roasting and a residue from coal firing. The metal concentrations in the slags, soils, and plants were used to calculate for each metal and soil-slag mixture the plant-soil fractional concentration ratio (CRfractional,slag), that is, the concentration ratio of the metal that results only from the slag in the soil. With the exception of TI, the resulting values obtained for this quantity for As, Cu, Pb, and Zn and for all vegetables were significantly smaller than the corresponding plant-soil concentration ratios (CRcontrol soil) for the uncontaminated soil. The results demonstrate quantitatively that the ability of a plant to accumulate a given metal as observed for a control soil might not exist for a soil-slag mixture, and vice versa.

The Challenge Posed to Children's Health by Mixtures of Toxic Waste: The Tar Creek Superfund Site as a Case-Study

“…Plants grown in mine-tailing amended soils take a smaller proportion of metals when compared to plants in control areas (19,20) with an effect that is most severe for the metals Cu and Pb and least severe for the metals Zn and Cd.…”

Assessment of bioavailability of some potential toxic metals in mining-affected soils using EDTA extraction and principle component analysis (PCA) approach, Derbyshire, UK

“…According to this study, the bioavailable ratio of studied metals has the order: Pb> Cu> Zn, which is quite similar to that order of the present study for the collected stream sediment samples. It could be concluded that metals exhibit various bioavailability ratios in different soil types, and the bioavailability fractions depend on many factors, including metal species, plan types, and soil parameters such as cation exchange capacity, pH, and redox potential [26,27].…”

Hyperaccumulation and Mobility of Heavy Metals in Vegetable Crops in India

“…In recent past, Bunzl et al (2001) investigated soil to plant transfer of heavy metals like, Cu, Pb and Zn by vegetables. Studies on heavy metal uptake reveled that vegetables grown at environmentally contaminated sites in Addis Ababa, Tanzania, could take up and accumulate metals at levels that are toxic to human health.…”