Heavy-Metal Losses from an Agroforestry Catchment
2006
Sande Fouz, P. | Vidal Vazquez, E. | Paz Gonzalez, A.
Long-term agricultural sustainability and water quality are impacted by different chemicals, including heavy metals. Heavy-metal losses at the catchment scale depend largely on land-management practices. Water-quality indicators are required near soil-quality indicators for different regions and farming systems. The purpose of this work is to analyze the heavy-metal losses from a mixed agroforestry catchment. Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mn), Zinc (Zn), and Copper (Cu) were measured in the drainage water of a 36.3 km2 catchment located at the Valinas River (Coruna, northwest Spain), and a total of 193 samples were collected during the course of 2003. The sampling strategy was a stratified point sampling involving more frequent sampling when flow was high. Water metal content was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma (ICP-AES). The content ranges of dissolved heavy metals were as follows: Fe between 10 and 267 microgram/L, Mn 0.2 and 77 microgram/L, Zn 0.62 and 53.7 microgram/L, and Cu 0.20 and 9.26 microgram/L. Heavy metal content strongly varied along the study time, depending on storm flow but also on timing of animal-waste applications.
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