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Abnormal trace element concentrations in a shallow aquifer belonging to saline reclaimed environments, Codigoro (Italy)

  • Water and soil pollution in Italy
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Abstract

Geogenic trace element (TE) contamination is an upcoming concern. The present study reports the temporal and spatial variation of major ions and TEs in a shallow unconfined aquifer belonging to a complex marsh saline environment reclaimed in modern age and intensively cultivated. The use of intensive depth profiles in five different locations gave insights into groundwater and sediment matrix interactions. Data indicate that the dominant factor involved in determining the spatial variability of TE is the sediment–water interaction, while the temporal variation of TE is due to the organic matter content and to the water table oscillation, which in turn drive the groundwater redox status and the mobilization of some inorganic microconstituents, such as Fe and Mn. Despite that the anthropogenic input of TEs in groundwater from fertilizer sources cannot be undoubtedly ruled out, given the elevated TE background concentrations, the combined use of high-resolution sediment profiles, seasonal groundwater sampling and end-member analyses is a promising procedure to distinguish between anthropogenic metal contamination and geogenic contribution in reclaimed deltaic environments. Finally, this study underlines the need of having a dense piezometer network and to perform several monitoring campaigns to ensure that the temporal and spatial variability could be correctly represented and background values of TE confidently determined.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank Dr. Renzo Tassinari, Dr. Umberto Tessari and Francesco Droghetti from the Physics and Earth Sciences Department of the University of Ferrara for the ICP-MS analyses, grain size analyses and soil collection, respectively. This work has been supported by EC LIFE + funding to the ZeoLIFE project (LIFE+10 ENV/IT/000321).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Via Saragat 1, 44122, Ferrara, Italy

    Micòl Mastrocicco, Dario Di Giuseppe, Barbara Faccini, Giacomo Ferretti & Massimo Coltorti

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Nicolò Colombani

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  1. Micòl Mastrocicco
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  2. Nicolò Colombani
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  3. Dario Di Giuseppe
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  4. Barbara Faccini
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  5. Giacomo Ferretti
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  6. Massimo Coltorti
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Correspondence to Nicolò Colombani.

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Mastrocicco, M., Colombani, N., Di Giuseppe, D. et al. Abnormal trace element concentrations in a shallow aquifer belonging to saline reclaimed environments, Codigoro (Italy). Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 27, 95–104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0454-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-015-0454-x

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