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Variations in mercury and other trace elements contents in soil and in vine leaves from the Almadén Hg-mining district

  • POTENTIALLY HARMFUL ELEMENTS IN SOIL-PLANT INTERACTIONS
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Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Vines (Vitis vinifera, L.) are a very important agricultural resource for Spain in general and for the Castilla-La Mancha region in particular, providing important productions of wines. Grapes and raisins are used for direct consumption too. In this work, we study analytical constraints regarding metallic trace elements uptake, focusing on Hg, from vines growing in the Almadén mercury mining district, the world's largest producer of this element, inactive nowadays.

Materials and methods

The study started with the analysis of these metals in soils and sets of vines leaves from seven sites located at different distances from the Almadén Hg mine. The samples of soils were dried at ambient temperature for 1 week. They were then sifted (<2 mm) and were stored for subsequent analysis. The leaves were dried and the leaf blade and petiole were separated. About 2 g of each sample were hand milled and analyzed using the same fluorescence spectrometer. Total mercury in soils and vine leaves were determined using a Lumex RA-915+ device, an atomic absorption spectrometer with a pyrolysis unit (RP-91c).

Results and discussion

Results show significant correlations between soil and leaves contents for total and organic mercury (R = 0.934 and 0.984, respectively). Hg contents range in soil from 2,376 to 0.04 mg/kg in non-polluted places. For the organic fraction, the range varies between 197.49 and 3.15 mg/kg. Total Hg contents measured in leaves were from 5.14 mg/kg (close to dump zone of the mine) to 0.03 mg/kg in the proximity of Carrión de Calatrava, located some 100 km away from Almadén. Mercury reaches maximum in the proximity of known sources of the element: the mining and/or metallurgical areas of Almadén and Almadenejos.

Conclusions

Soils from the study area contain normal contents in trace metals, and these are conditioned by the local geology or urban locations of the area. Trace metals contents in leaves do not show a relationship with soil contents, possibly due to the low bioavailability of these elements in the soils investigated. Mercury is, as expected for this area, an exception to this trend, with very high concentrations that reach maximum values in the proximity of the known sources of the element: the proximity of mining and/or metallurgical areas in Almadén and Almadenejos.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the “Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spanish Government”, project CTM2012-33918 and “Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha”, project PPII10-0063-8230.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Geología Aplicada, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Pl. Manuel Meca 1, Almadén, 13400, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Jose-Angel Amorós, José María Esbrí, Francisco-Jesús García-Navarro, Caridad Pérez-de-los-Reyes, Sandra Bravo, Begoña Villaseñor & Pablo Higueras

  2. Escuela de Ingenieros Agrónomos de Ciudad Real, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ronda de Calatrava 7, 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Jose-Angel Amorós, Francisco-Jesús García-Navarro, Caridad Pérez-de-los-Reyes, Sandra Bravo & Begoña Villaseñor

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  1. Jose-Angel Amorós
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  2. José María Esbrí
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  3. Francisco-Jesús García-Navarro
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  4. Caridad Pérez-de-los-Reyes
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  6. Begoña Villaseñor
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  7. Pablo Higueras
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Correspondence to Jose-Angel Amorós.

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Responsible editor: Jaume Bech

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Amorós, JA., Esbrí, J.M., García-Navarro, FJ. et al. Variations in mercury and other trace elements contents in soil and in vine leaves from the Almadén Hg-mining district. J Soils Sediments 14, 773–777 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0783-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0783-2

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