Abstract
The use of standard single-extraction procedures to evaluate the mobility and availability of trace elements is a common practice in most laboratories dealing with soil or sediment analysis. Most standard single-extraction procedures describe incubations last for 2 h. However, these were tested and validated for soil analysis. Applying them for sediment analysis without further investigation might be misleading and should be reviewed with care. This paper investigates the effect of incubation time on the extraction efficiency of three standard single-extracting reagents (0.01 M CaCl2, 1 M NH4NO3, and 0.05 M EDTA). Incubation experiments with sediment and soil samples lasting for 2 h, 10 h, and 10 d were performed. The results indicated that 2 h appears sufficient to reach equilibrium using CaCl2 or NH4NO3 for soil analysis; but when analyzing sediments, incubation for 10 d resulted in higher concentrations. Incubation experiments with 0.05 M EDTA showed that incubation for 2 h was enough to extract Cd from the soil sample, Mn and to a lesser extent Cd from the sediment samples; while for the other elements, incubation for 10 d yielded higher concentrations for both sample types compared to that obtained after 2 h and 10 h separately. Relative to the pseudo-total metal contents, more than 55% of all studied elements were extracted by using 0.05 M EDTA, indicating high bioavailable metal fraction.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this manuscript and its supplementary information files.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Stefan Van Dongen and Hans De Wolf for their assistance in the statistical analysis of this study. We thank Lies Teunen for preparing the map of the sampling sites.
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This work was supported by the University of Antwerp Concerted Research Action no 40, under a project entitled “Integrated study of the effects of environmental pollutants on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
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Diab Qadah is the corresponding author, who conducted all experiments, prepared all figures and tables, except, Table 1, and wrote the manuscript. Lieven Bervoets prepared Table 1, wrote the description of sampling sites, sampling and sampling procedure, and reviewed the manuscript. Ronny Blust reviewed the manuscript.
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Qadah, D., Bervoets, L. & Blust, R. Effect of incubation time of three single extraction procedures on trace element extraction from sediment and soil. Environ Monit Assess 195, 342 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10890-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10890-3