Title:
Origin, mineral speciation and geochemical baseline mapping of Ni and Cr in agricultural topsoils of Thiva Valley (central Greece)
Languages of Item:
English
Abstract:
Lithogenic Ni and Cr enrichment in agricultural topsoils of Thiva Valley (central Greece) is the result of transport of weathered parent rock fragments from upslope ultramafic sources. Chemical and mineralogical evolution of these potentially toxic elements between the trace metal bearing bedrock and the overlying soil horizon along two weathering profiles located in an area where the ultramafic rocks are exposed was accomplished to unravel the source and mineral speciation dynamics of Ni and Cr in the soil system of Thiva Valley. Within the soil horizons, Ni primarily occurs in serpentine (average 0.5wt.% of NiO) and secondary weathering products like smectites (average 0.5wt.% of NiO) and goethite (average 1.1wt.% of NiO). Significant amounts of this element are also hosted in less abundant Mn (hydr)oxides. On the contrary, Cr is mainly bounded with inherited chromite (average 54.7wt.% of Cr2O3) and to a lesser extent with Cr-magnetite (average 12.2wt.% of Cr2O3) and Cr silicates like enstatite (average 0.8wt.% of Cr2O3). As a result of the solid speciation and the applied decomposition method (aqua regia digestion), the soil geochemical anomalies within the valley are more pronounced with respect to Ni (up to 2640mg/kg) compared to Cr (up to 856mg/kg). The geochemical baseline maps produced by the ordinary kriging interpolation method reveal a strong tendency for large Ni and Cr amounts in the southern part of the area warning about the potential occurrence of high metal values in soils of Thiva town with an approximate number of 25,000 exposed population. Based on the mineralogical residence of Ni and Cr differences in their potential bioavailability and leaching to groundwater are anticipated. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.
Authors:
Kelepertzis, E.
Galanos, E.
Mitsis, I.
Journal:
Journal of Geochemical Exploration
Keywords:
Agricultural topsoils; Aqua-regia digestion; Decomposition methods; Geochemical anomaly; Geochemical mapping; Metal values; Ordinary kriging; Potentially toxic elements; Rock fragments; Smectites; Soil geochemical baseline; Soil horizon; Soil systems; Trace metal; Ultramafic rocks; Weathering profiles, Agriculture; Biochemistry; Chemical speciation; Exploratory geochemistry; Groundwater; Interpolation; Landforms; Leaching; Manganese; Minerals; Nickel; Serpentine; Silicates; Soils; Weathering, Chromium, bedrock; chemical weathering; chromite; chromium; mineralogy; nickel; serpentine; smectite; soil chemistry; soil horizon; speciation (chemistry); topsoil; ultramafic rock; weathering profile, Boeotia; Central Greece; Greece; Thiva
Official URL (Publisher):
DOI:
10.1016/j.gexplo.2012.11.007
