Heavy metal concentrations in floodplain soils of the Innerste River and in leaves of wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus L. agg.) growing within and outside the floodplain: the legacy of historical mining activities in the Harz Mountains (Germany)
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| Title: | Heavy metal concentrations in floodplain soils of the Innerste River and in leaves of wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus L. agg.) growing within and outside the floodplain: the legacy of historical mining activities in the Harz Mountains (Germany) |
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| Authors: | Louisa F. Steingräber, Catharina Ludolphy, Johannes Metz, Lars Germershausen, Horst Kierdorf, Uwe Kierdorf |
| Source: | Environ Sci Pollut Res Int |
| Publisher Information: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021. |
| Publication Year: | 2021 |
| Subject Terms: | 2. Zero hunger, China, 15. Life on land, Risk Assessment, 01 natural sciences, 6. Clean water, Plant Leaves, Soil, Metal ore mining, Metals, Heavy/analysis [MeSH], Risk Assessment [MeSH], Soil Pollutants/analysis [MeSH], Harz Mountains, Soil [MeSH], Environmental Monitoring [MeSH], Floodplain, Biomonitoring, China [MeSH], Plant Leaves/chemistry [MeSH], Heavy metals, Research Article, Legacy pollution, Rubus [MeSH], 13. Climate action, Metals, Heavy, Soil Pollutants, Rubus, Environmental Monitoring, 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Description: | We studied heavy metal levels in floodplain soils of the Innerste River in northern Germany and in the leaves of wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus L. agg.) growing within and in adjacent areas outside the river floodplain. Heavy metal contamination of the Innerste floodplain is a legacy of historical metal ore mining, processing, and smelting in the Harz Mountains. The heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cr) contents of previously studied soil samples from eleven floodplain sites along the Innerste River were re-analyzed statistically, and the levels of these metals in blackberry leaves were determined at five sites. Mean concentrations in the floodplain soils were elevated by factors of 4.59 to 28.5 for Cd, 13.03 to 158.21 for Pb, 5.66 to 45.83 for Zn, and 1.1–14.81 for Cu relative to the precautionary limits for soils stipulated by the German Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance. Cadmium, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ni levels in floodplain soils decreased markedly downstream, as did the concentrations of Cd, Zn, and Ni in the leaves of blackberries from within the floodplain. Levels of Cd, Pb, and Zn in leaves of blackberries from within the floodplain significantly exceeded those of specimens from outside the floodplain. The findings of our study highlight the potential of wild blackberry as a biomonitor of soil pollution by Cd, Pb, and Zn and corroborate the massive heavy metal contamination of floodplain soils along the Innerste River observed in previous studies. |
| Document Type: | Article Other literature type |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 1614-7499 0944-1344 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11356-021-17320-w |
| Access URL: | https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-021-17320-w.pdf https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34786622 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-021-17320-w https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-021-17320-w.pdf https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6444625 |
| Rights: | CC BY URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
| Accession Number: | edsair.doi.dedup.....921e1365eca41992b48da105a620d7a6 |
| Database: | OpenAIRE |
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Nájsť tento článok vo Web of Science | Abstract: | We studied heavy metal levels in floodplain soils of the Innerste River in northern Germany and in the leaves of wild blackberries (Rubus fruticosus L. agg.) growing within and in adjacent areas outside the river floodplain. Heavy metal contamination of the Innerste floodplain is a legacy of historical metal ore mining, processing, and smelting in the Harz Mountains. The heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cr) contents of previously studied soil samples from eleven floodplain sites along the Innerste River were re-analyzed statistically, and the levels of these metals in blackberry leaves were determined at five sites. Mean concentrations in the floodplain soils were elevated by factors of 4.59 to 28.5 for Cd, 13.03 to 158.21 for Pb, 5.66 to 45.83 for Zn, and 1.1–14.81 for Cu relative to the precautionary limits for soils stipulated by the German Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Sites Ordinance. Cadmium, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Ni levels in floodplain soils decreased markedly downstream, as did the concentrations of Cd, Zn, and Ni in the leaves of blackberries from within the floodplain. Levels of Cd, Pb, and Zn in leaves of blackberries from within the floodplain significantly exceeded those of specimens from outside the floodplain. The findings of our study highlight the potential of wild blackberry as a biomonitor of soil pollution by Cd, Pb, and Zn and corroborate the massive heavy metal contamination of floodplain soils along the Innerste River observed in previous studies. |
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| ISSN: | 16147499 09441344 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11356-021-17320-w |