Speciation analysis to unravel the soil-to-plant transfer in highly arsenic-contaminated areas in Cornwall (UK)

Abstract

Two areas near derelict calciners in Cornwall (UK) were chosen to study the uptake of arsenic from arsenic-contaminated soil into indigenous plants (heather, Calluna vulgaris; blackberry, Rubus ulmifulmus; gorse, Ulex europaeus). With total arsenic concentrations in soil ranging from 1240 to 2860 mg kg⁻¹ at Site 1 (Tuckingmill), no adverse effects on the growth of the plants studied were observed. Very low soil-to-plant transfer factors (0.01 to 0.03) were found although they were much higher when the extractable soil arsenic concentrations were taken into account (0.1 to 1.1). In the central dump area at Site 2 (Bissoe, 9.78% [w/w] arsenic in soil), the only plant to grow was heather, although it was severely impaired. However, heather was thriving at the edge of the dump where higher soil arsenic concentrations were found (10.32% [w/w]), indicating that arsenic is not a growth-limiting factor in itself. Soil-to-plant transfer factors in the range 2 × 10⁻⁵–9 × 10⁻⁴ confirm that arsenic is indeed effectively excluded from uptake, even taking into account extractable soil arsenic concentrations (9 × 10⁻⁴–1.2 × 10⁻²).

Extraction of bioavailable arsenic from soil using 0.05 mol L⁻¹ ammonium sulphate yielded recoveries from 1.18 to 3.34% of the total arsenic, predominantly in the form of arsenate. Extraction of arsenic and its metabolites from plants was achieved with water or a water/methanol mixture yielding recoveries up to 22.4% of the total arsenic, with arsenite and arsenate the predominant arsenic species and a minor fraction consisting of methylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid and trimethylarsine oxide. The identity of the remainder of the non-extractable arsenic species still has to be revealed. Although the data suggest that higher plants synthesise organoarsenic compounds it cannot be excluded that symbiotic organisms have synthesised these compounds.

Keywords:

• arsenic
• uptake
• speciation
• plant
• soil

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Slovene Ministry for Education, Science and Sport through research programme P1-0143 and by the British Council in the framework of the Slovene-British bilateral project PSP-18/2003.