『Abstract
Trace element content in soils is mainly dependent on the nature
of parent rocks from which the soil material is derived, as well
as weathering and soil forming processes. despite the close relationship
between soil and rock, the soil forming processes modify the regolith
and redistribute the content of heavy metals in the soil horizons.
The World Reference Base (WRB) is a morphogenetic system of soil
classification strongly based in soil genesis at the level of
Reference Soil Groups (RSG). Present differences in trace elements
content between different RSG may reflect the impact of pedogenic
pathways of each RSG on the original trace element distribution.
The natural variation of heavy metal content is a preliminary
step in assessing heavy metal contamination in soils. Therefore,
the term geochemical background became an important reference
with increasing environmental awareness. The concentration and
distribution of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were investigated in
thirty profiles of Catamarca in the municipal district of Fray
Mamerto Esquiu(後のuの頭に´), Argentina. The heavy
metals content, except for Cd, is highly dependent on RSG according
to WRB. Occasional or continuous contribution of sediments as
in alluvial soils becomes the soil forming processes that acquires
greater importance in the distribution of heavy metals. The organic
matter content is the soil property that comes out as relevant
at lower levels of Fluvisols when Humic or Mollihumic qualifiers
apply. All studied soils show extremely high Pb in relation to
the surrounding bedrock. This confirm that the infilling of the
alluvial valley is not derived from the surrounding bedrock but
it must come from a different source. The increase in the silt
content of soils in the southern part of the alluvial valley are
well reflected by Ni content. Therefore, pedogenic processes have
had little influence in regional Ni distribution. The upper limit
of the background, which allows distinguishing between natural
element and anomalous concentrations are presented. The heavy
metal showing the greatest number of samples with slight enrichment
anomalies is Cd. Slight enrichment anomalies in cd, Cr, Cu, Pb
and Zn were detected in profile 29 confirming an anthropogenic
pollution.
Keywords: Guideline values; Heavy metals; Geochemical background;
WRB soil classification; Argentina』
1. Introduction
2. Material and methods
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Influence of soil forming processes in heavy metal content
3.2. Background determination
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References