Combination of Different Extractants to Assess Binding Forms of Some Elements in Soil Profiles

Abstract

Abstract Three different chemical extractants were evaluated as to their extraction efficiency for copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), aluminium (Al), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and calcium (Ca) on forest soil profiles from the Romanian Carpathians. The extractants were hot 14 M nitric acid (HNO3), 0.05 M hydrochloric acid (HCl), and 0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate. By comparing amounts extracted by 0.05 M HCl and 0.1 M sodium pyrophosphate relative to that dissolved by hot 14 M HNO3, some conclusions were drawn concerning the chemical forms of the metals in the extractable pool. The amount released by 0.05 M HCl was generally less than 10% of the HNO3‐extractable fraction but showed considerable variation among the elements studied. The relative amount extracted by pyrophosphate increased with organic‐matter content of the soils for Cu, Zn, Pb, Al, Fe, and Cr; stayed more or less constant for Mn, K, and Mg; and decreased for Ca. These findings are discussed with respect to the different binding forms of the metals in the soil and the processes affecting their mobility. From the present results, the metals were ranked as follows with respect to their ability to form organic complexes in natural soils: Cu>Cr, Pb>Ca>Al>Fe, Zn, Mn, K>Mg. However, the use of cold dilute HCl as a fractionation step may be questionable in cases of soils with a high content of substances possessing large neutralization capacity for protons. Keywords: Extractionsfractionationmajor elementsRomaniasoiltrace elements Acknowledgments This research was supported by the Research Council of Norway, which is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks are due to Torill Eidhammer Sjøbakk, who helped with the experimental part.