Abstract
Civilian and military shooting range facilities cause environmental issues in several countries due to the accumulation of Potentially Toxic Elements; as a result of weathering of ammunitions accumulated into the soils. The contents and distribution of Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were analyzed in 12 soils in an abandoned clay target shooting range at two different depths (0–15 and 15–30 cm). Single extractions (CaCl2 and DTPA) and Tessier sequential extraction were conducted to assess the PTE mobility and the PTE distribution in the different soil geochemical fractions at both depths. High total contents of Pb were found at both soil depths, while Cu, Ni and Zn showed lower significance levels. Copper, Ni and Zn are mainly associated with the residual fraction (> 95% of total content in all cases). However, Pb was highly associated with exchangeable fractions (21–52%), showing a high mobility at both depths. With moderate-high contents of organic matter (6–12%), the studied soils have acidic values and low levels of Al, Fe and Mn oxides that favors the migration of Pb through the soil profile and potential transformation to more mobile forms (Pb0 to Pb2+ and Pb4+). Although Pb reduced downward mobility in soils, due to the specific conditions of these facilities and the lead source (weathering of ammunition), risk assessment studies on clay-target shooting and firing range facilities should study the potential migration of Pb through the soil profile.
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This research was supported by Project CGL2013-45494-R (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain) and by national funds through F.C.T. (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal) within the scope of UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020 (CIIMAR). R.L.D. thanks to the Spanish Ministry of Education by their grant for their MSc degree. D.A.L. thanks to the Xunta de Galicia and the University of Vigo for the postdoc grant (ED481D 2019/007). A.R.S. thanks support by the F.C.T. Scientific Employment Stimulus-Individual 2017 (CEECIND/03794/2017).
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ARA, RLD, DAL and ARS were involved in investigation and data and formal analysis. ARA, RLD and ARS were involved in chemical analysis. ARA and RLD were involved in writing—original draft. DAL, FAV and ARS were involved in revising and writing. DAL and FAV were involved in funding acquisition. FAV collected resources and was involved in project administration. ARS was involved in methodology. ARS and FAV were involved in conceptualization and supervision.
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Reigosa-Alonso, A., Lorenzo Dacunha, R., Arenas-Lago, D. et al. Soils from abandoned shooting range facilities as contamination source of potentially toxic elements: distribution among soil geochemical fractions. Environ Geochem Health 43, 4283–4297 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00900-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00900-7