Assessment of Lead Origin in Forest Soils of the Czech Republic Using Isotopic Ratios
2022
Johanis, Hana | Tejnecký, Václav | Drábek, Ondřej | Borůvka, Luboš | Mihaljevič, Martin
Forest soils play an important role in the global ecosystem, providing many beneficial services. Protection of forests and their soils from anthropogenic impacts is therefore of utter importance to conservation efforts. Lead (Pb) is one of the most widespread anthropogenic pollutants and has been introduced into forests of the Czech Republic since medieval times, mostly from smelting, coal burning, and later also leaded gasoline. Lead can cause serious damage to the environment and forest soils and whose levels in the environment thus need to be closely monitored. In order to best evaluate possible sources of Pb pollution, 120 soils were sampled across forest areas of the Czech Republic. These sites were selected to be in areas largely unaffected by major pollution sources such as highways, large cities, and industrial complexes. Soils were digested using aqua regia and analyzed using ICP-MS for Pb isotopic ratios. Sampled forest soils have displayed isotopic signatures in a range of 1.1635–1.2269 for ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and 2.3918–2.5235 for ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and have had mostly uniform isotopic signature, with mean values of 1.1779 ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb and 2.4624 ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁷Pb, likely stemming from widespread atmospheric pollution. The exception to this uniformity was floodplain forests (average ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb 1.1939, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁷Pb 2.4610), potentially due to a greater influx of materials from the river bed or surface runoff. These findings may aid future conservation efforts in determining background values for soil Pb and monitoring the state and health of forests in the Czech Republic.
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