A combined process coupling phytoremediation and in situ flushing for removal of arsenic in contaminated soil

Phytoremediation and soil washing are both potentially useful for remediating arsenic(As)-contaminated soils.We evaluated the effectiveness of a combined process coupling phytoremediation and in situ soil flushing for removal of As in contaminated soil through a pilot study.The results showed that growing Pteris vittata L.(P.v.) accompanied by soil flushing of phosphate(P.v./Flushing treatment) could significantly decrease the total As concentration of soil over a 37 day flushing period compared with the single flushing(Flushing treatment).The P.v./Flushing treatment removed 54.04% of soil As from contaminated soil compared to 47.16% in Flushing treatment,suggesting that the growth of P.vittata was beneficial for promoting the removal efficiency.We analyzed the As fractionation in soil and As concentration in soil solution to reveal the mechanism behind this combined process.Results showed that comparing with the control treatment,the percent of labile arsenate fraction significantly increased by 17% under P.v./Flushing treatment.As concentration in soil solution remained a high lever during the middle and later periods(51.26–56.22 mg/L),which was significantly higher than the Flushing treatment.Although soil flushing of phosphate for more than a month,P.vittata still had good accumulation and transfer capacity of As of the soil.The results of the research revealed that combination of phytoremediation and in situ soil flushing is available to remediate As-contaminated soils.     

An optimised sequential extraction scheme for the evaluation of vanadium mobility in soils

Reviewing the current state of knowledge about sequential extraction applied for soil vanadium(V) fractionation, we identified an urgent requirement of an sequential extraction(SE) specified for V. Namely, almost all previous SE extracted only 8.4%–48% of total V in soils(excluding residue). Thus, we proposed an eight-step SE for V fractionation in soils according to the knowledge gained from literature and our own dissolution experiments with model minerals. After extracting the mobilisable and adsorbed V with de-ionised water and 5 mmol/L phosphate, 1 mol/L pyrophosphate was applied to gather organic matter bound V which minimised the artefact dissolving Al and Fe(hydr)oxides occurred when using HNO_3–H_2O_2for extraction. Extraction with 0.4 mol/L NH_2OH·HCl was highly selective toward manganese oxides. Fractionation of different crystalline Al and Fe(hydr)oxides associated V with 1 mol/L HCl, 0.2 mol/L oxalate buffer and 4 mol/L HCl at 95°C especially improved the extractability of V incorporated with crystalline phase associated V. The suitability of our new SE scheme was confirmed by its higher selectivity against the target phases and higher extraction efficiencies(55%–77% of total V) with model minerals and 6 soils of different properties than previous SE.     

通风及营养元素对多环芳烃污染土壤修复影响

文章在无外源接种体的条件下,评估了强制通风(通风量为1.51 L/min)与营养元素对土壤中多环芳烃(PAHs)降解的交互作用。结果表明:仅靠合适的营养液配方和长时间通风可以刺激污染土壤中的土著微生物生长,并影响微生物菌群的形成。通风同时添加营养液有利于好氧菌生长、加快PAHs的降解;与通风相比,添加营养元素是影响PAHs降解的主要因素。通风和添加营养元素对3环PAHs降解影响不显著,但可促进4环、5环和6环PAHs污染物降解。60 d内,仅通风、仅添加营养元素、同时通风和添加营养元素处理的PAHs分别降解了52%、59%、67%。     

Carbon paste electrodes modified with biosolids, soils and biocomposites utilized to study the interaction between organic matter and copper

Carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) modified with a biosolid, two types of soils with different amounts of organic matter (OM), and two biocomposites (soils mixed with a biosolid) were used to assess and compare the Cu(II) ion retention properties of the organic matter contained in the samples. The accumulation of Cu(II) on the surface of the modified carbon paste electrodes (MCPEs) was performed under open-circuit conditions. When comparing the response of the MCPEs while assessing parameters such as pH, preconcentration time, and adsorption/desorption capacity, it was found that the reaction mechanism of the two soils is different between the soils and dissimilar from the biosolid; while the biocomposites show reaction mechanisms that are intermediate between those of the soils and the biosolid. This was proven with the use of infrared spectroscopy, since the FTIR spectra show similarities between the two soils and significant differences between the soils and the biosolid.     

Using pruning residues as mulch: analysis of its adoption and process of diffusion in Southern Spain olive orchards

This paper analyses both the processes of adoption and diffusion of the practice of using the chopped residues of pruning as mulch in the olive orchards of the Southern Spanish province of Granada, one of the major olive-producing areas in the world. Many olive groves in the area are located on steep areas where the risk of soil erosion is high. A majority of farmers have adopted no tillage, as an alternative to traditional tillage, combined with either vegetation soil covers or, more frequently, using the chopped pruning residues as mulch. The data used comes from a survey carried out in 2005 to 215 olive farmers. From farmers' responses we estimate a binomial probit model to identify some socio-economic and institutional factors related to the decision to use the practice of mulching on a regular basis. We also estimate several diffusion models that describe the spatial and temporal spread of mulching among farmers. Our results show that mulching using the pruning residues is adopted by 43% of the surveyed farmers. The diffusion process of this practice has been very intense since the middle nineties, and seems to have been based on the interactions among farmers in the area of study rather than in other external source of information. Some of the relevant identified factors that affect the probability of adoption of this practice are farmer's experience, the level of soil degradation in the farm or the continuity of farming by some relative.     

Sorption of hydrophobic pesticides on a Mediterranean soil affected by wastewater, dissolved organic matter and salts

Irrigation with treated wastewaters as an alternative in countries with severe water shortage may influence the sorption of pesticides and their environmental effects, as wastewater contains higher concentrations of suspended and dissolved organic matter and inorganic compounds than freshwater. We have examined the sorption behaviour of three highly hydrophobic pesticides (the herbicide pendimethalin and the insecticides α-cypermethrin and deltamethrin) on a Mediterranean agricultural soil using the batch equilibration method. We considered wastewater, extracts from urban sewage sludge with different dissolved organic carbon contents, and inorganic salt solutions, using Milli Q water as a control. All pesticides were strongly retained by soil although some sorption occurred on the walls of the laboratory containers, especially when wastewater and inorganic salt solutions were used. The calculation of distribution constants by measuring pesticide concentrations in soil and solution indicated that pendimethalin sorption was not affected whereas α-cypermethrin and deltamethrin retention were significantly enhanced (ca. 5 and 2 times, respectively) when wastewater or salt solutions were employed. We therefore conclude that the increased sorption of the two pesticides caused by wastewater cannot be only the result of its dissolved organic carbon content, but also of the simultaneous presence of inorganic salts in the solution.     

汉江源土壤流失状况及生态效益测评

在通用土壤流失方程的基础上,提出了土壤侵蚀系数和土壤保持系数的概念和计算方法,用其对南水北调中线工程水源区土壤侵蚀状况及生态效益进行了测评,结果表明:(1)自然条件影响下,研究区潜在土壤侵蚀量大且空间分布差异显著,中高山区远大于河谷盆地区。(2)研究区实际土壤侵蚀量较小,但土壤侵蚀系数较大且空间分布规律性强。人类水土保持措施与土地利用方式对土壤侵蚀贡献率高,低山丘陵区土壤侵蚀系数最大,局部可达0.6,中高山及盆地区相对较小。(3)中高山区水土保持效益略有增加;河谷盆地及低山丘陵区明显减小。(4)低山丘陵区应成为今后水土保护工作的重点监控和治理区,也是应重点考虑的生态补偿区。     

An Open Source GIS‐Based Decision Support System for Watershed Evaluation of Best Management Practices

Economic costs, water quantity/quality benefits, and cost effectiveness of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) at a watershed scale are increasingly examined using integrated economic‐hydrologic models. However, these models are typically complex and not user‐friendly for examining the effects of various BMP scenarios. In this study, an open source geographic information system (GIS)‐based decision support system (DSS), named the watershed evaluation of BMPs (WEBs), was developed for creating BMP scenarios and simulating economic costs and water quantity/quality benefits at farm field, subbasin, and watershed scales. This DSS or WEBs interface integrated a farm economic model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), and an optimization model within Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools (GAT), an open source GIS software. The DSS was applied to the 14.3‐km² Gully Creek watershed, a coastal watershed in southern Ontario, Canada that drains directly into Lake Huron. BMPs that were evaluated included conservation tillage, nutrient management, cover crop, and water and sediment control basins. In addition to assessing economic costs, water quantity/quality benefits, and cost effectiveness of BMPs, the DSS can be also used to examine prioritized BMP types/locations and corresponding economic and water quantity/quality tradeoffs in the study watershed based on environmental targets or budget constraints. Further developments of the DSS including interface transfer to other watersheds are also discussed. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.     

Single- and dual-porosity modelling of flow in reclaimed mine soil cores with embedded lignitic fragments

Lignitic mine soils represent a typical two-scale dual-porosity medium consisting of a technogenic mixture of overburden sediments that include lignitic components as dust and as porous fragments embedded within a mostly coarse-textured matrix. Flow and transport processes in such soils are not sufficiently understood to predict the course of soil reclamation or of mine drainage. The objective of this contribution is to identify the most appropriate conceptual model for describing small-scale heterogeneity effects on flow on the basis of the physical structure of the system. Multistep flow experiments on soil cores are analyzed using either mobile–immobile or mobile–mobile type 1D dual-porosity models, and a 3D numerical model that considers a local-scale distribution of fragments. Simulations are compared with time series' of upward infiltration and matric potential heads measured at two depths using miniature tensiometers. The 3D and the 1D dual-permeability models yielded comparable results as long as pressure heads are in local equilibrium; however, could describe either the upward infiltration or the matric potential curves but not both at the same time. The mobile–immobile type dual-porosity model failed to describe the data. A simultaneous match with pressure heads and upward infiltration data could only be obtained with the 1D dual-permeability model (i.e., mobile–mobile) by assuming an additional restriction of the inter-domain water transfer. These results indicate that for unsaturated flow conditions at higher matric potential heads (i.e., here >− 40 hPa), water in a restricted part of the fragment domain must be more mobile as compared to water in the sandy matrix domain. Closer inspections of the pore system and first neutron radiographic imaging support the hypothesis that a more continuous pore region exists at these pressure heads in the vicinity of the lignitic fragments possibly formed by fragment contacts and a lignitic dust interface-region between the two domains. The results suggest that the small-scale structure is too complex as to be represented by weighted contributions of individual components alone.     

Is tree growth reduction related to direct foliar injuries or soil chemistry modifications?

In the context of intense emissions causing atmospheric pollution, tree growth reductions could be related to soil chemistry modifications or direct foliar injuries. To verify these hypotheses, mineral soils were sampled in an area (Murdochville, Canada) where previous studies had demonstrated that tree growth was impacted by smelter emissions and that forest floor lead concentrations could be used as a proxy for atmospheric pollutant depositions. Samples were analysed for Al, Pb (concentrations and isotope ratios), basic cations (Ca, K, P, and Mg) and Zr. Mass balance calculations were performed on soil profiles to assess vertical migration of elements. Pb concentrations in litter diminished gradually with distance from the smelter. The Pb isotope ratios in these organic soil layers were close to those measured in the Murdochville ores. These patterns were not encountered in mineral soil layers. Pb isotope ratios in these layers were close to those measured in uncontaminated geological materials, and Pb concentrations and basic cation depletions were not related to the proximity of the smelter. Growth reduction was closely associated with litter Pb concentrations, which were used as a proxy for atmospheric deposition, but was not correlated with any elemental concentration or cation depletion measured in mineral soil layers. Our overall results suggest that trees responded mainly to direct atmospheric emissions, which caused foliar damage, rather than to soil chemistry modifications.