Agricultural soils account for more than 50% of nitrogen leaching (LN) to groundwater in China. When excess levels of nitrogen accumulate in groundwater, it poses a risk of adverse health effects. Despite this recognition, estimation of LN from cropland soils in a broad spatial scale is still quite uncertain in China. The uncertainty of LN primarily stems from the shape of nitrogen leaching response to fertilizer additions (Nrate) and the role of environmental conditions. On the basis of 453 site-years at 51 sites across China, we explored the nonlinearity and variability of the response of LN to Nrate and developed an empirical statistical model to determine how environmental factors regulate the rate of N leaching (LR). The result shows that LN-Nrate relationship is convex for most crop types, and varies by local hydro-climates and soil organic carbon. Variability of air temperature explains a half (∼52%) of the spatial variation of LR. The results of model calibration and validation indicate that incorporating this empirical knowledge into a predictive model could accurately capture the variation in leaching and produce a reasonable upscaling from site to country. The fertilizer-induced LN in 2008 for China's cropland were 0.88 ± 0.23 TgN (1σ), significantly lower than the linear or uniform model, as assumed by Food and Agriculture Organization and MITERRA-EUROPE models. These results also imply that future policy to reduce N leaching from cropland needs to consider environmental variability rather than solely attempt to reduce Nrate.

Magnetic particles (MP) emitted by an iron smelter were used to investigate the exposure of cows grazing on a grassland polluted by these MP and by large amounts of potentially toxic elements (PTE). The morphology as well as the chemical composition of the MP separated from cow dung were studied. Large amounts of typical MP were found (1.1 g kg−1 dry weight) in the cow dung sampled from the exposed site, whereas these particles were absent from the reference unpolluted site. The ingested MP were mainly technogenic magnetic particles (TMP) emitted by the smelter. Considering the MP concentration in the grazed grass on the exposed site, it was concluded that cows absorb the MP not only from the grass but also from the soil surface. The results of a mild acidic leaching of the MP suggested that the particles were possibly submitted to a superficial dissolution in the abomasum, pointing at a potential route of transfer of the PTE originating from the TMP and leading into food chains. TMP were only a small part of the anthropogenic contamination having affected the soil and the dung. However, due to their unequivocal signature, TMP are a powerful tracer of the distribution of PTE in the different compartments constituting the food chains and the ecosystems. Furthermore, the measurement of the particle sizes gave evidence that a noticeable proportion of the MP could enter the respiratory tract.

Plastics are common and pervasive anthropogenic debris in marine environments. Floating plastics provide opportunities to alter the abundance, distribution and invasion potential of sessile organisms that colonize them. We selected plastics from seven recycle categories and quantified settlement of (i) bryozoans Bugula neritina (Linnaeus, 1758) in the lab and in the field, and of (ii) barnacles Amphibalanus (= Balanus) amphitrite (Darwin, 1854) in the field. In the laboratory we cultured barnacles on the plastics for 8 weeks and quantified growth, mortality, and breaking strength of the side plates. In the field all recyclable plastics were settlement substrata for bryozoans and barnacles. Settlement depended on the type of plastic. Fewer barnacles settled on plastic surfaces compared to glass. In the lab and in the field, bryozoan settlement was higher on plastics than on glass. In static laboratory rearing, barnacles growing on plastics were initially significantly smaller than on glass. This suggested juvenile barnacles were adversely impacted by materials leaching from the plastics. Barnacle mortality was not significantly different between plastic and glass surfaces, but breaking strength of side plates of barnacles on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polycarbonate (PC) were significantly lower than breakage strength on glass. Plastics impact marine ecosystems directly by providing new surfaces for colonization with fouling organisms and by contaminants shown previously to leach out of plastics and impact biological processes.

Rigorous studies of recovery from soil acidification are rare. Hence, we resampled 97 old-growth beech stands in the Vienna Woods. This study exploits an extensive data set of soil (infiltration zone of stemflow and between trees area at different soil depths) and foliar chemistry from three decades ago. It was hypothesized that declining acidic deposition is reflected in soil and foliar chemistry. Top soil pH within the stemflow area increased significantly by 0.6 units in both H2O and KCl extracts from 1984 to 2012. Exchangeable Ca and Mg increased markedly in the stemflow area and to a lower extent in the top soil of the between trees area. Trends of declining base cations in the lower top soil were probably caused by mobilization of organic S and associated leaching with high amounts of sulfate. Contents of C, N and S decreased markedly in the stemflow area from 1984 to 2012, suggesting that mineralization rates of organic matter increased due to more favorable soil conditions. It is concluded that the top soil will continue to recover from acidic deposition. However, in the between trees areas and especially in deeper soil horizons recovery may be highly delayed. The beech trees of the Vienna Woods showed no sign of recovery from acidification although S deposition levels decreased. Release of historic S even increased foliar S contents. Base cation levels in the foliage declined but are still adequate for beech trees. Increasing N/nutrient ratios over time were considered not the result of marginally higher N foliar contents in 2012 but of diminishing nutrient uptake due to the decrease in ion concentration in soil solution. The mean foliar N/P ratio already increased to the alarming value of 31. Further nutritional imbalances will predispose trees to vitality loss.

In practice, stable Cd isotope ratios are being applied to trace pollution sources in the natural environment. However, Cd isotope fractionation during weathering processes is not yet fully understood. We investigated Cd isotope fractionation of PbZn ore in leaching experiments and in the environment under natural weathering processes. Our leaching experiments demonstrated that the leachate was enriched with heavy Cd isotopes, relative to initial and residual samples (Δ114/110Cdleachate − initial state = 0.40–0.50‰, Δ114/110Cdleachate −residual state = 0.36–0.53‰). For natural samples, δ114/110Cd values of stream sediments were higher than those of the corresponding soil samples collected from the riverbank, Δ114/110Cdstream sediment −soil can be up to 0.50‰. This observation is consistent with our leaching experiments, which indicate significant Cd isotope fractionation during natural weathering processes. Therefore, natural contributions should be considered when using Cd isotopes to trace anthropogenic pollution in water and sediment systems.

Insufficient understanding of the hydrogeochemistry of aquifers makes it necessary to conduct a preliminary water quality assessment in the southern region of Ordos Basin, an arid area in the world. In this paper, the major ions of groundwater have been studied aiming at evaluating the hydrogeochemical processes that probably affect the groundwater quality using 150 samples collected in 2015. The two prevalent hydrochemical facies, HCO3Mg·Na·Ca and HCO3Mg·Ca·Na type water, have been identified based on the hydrochemical analysis from Piper trilinear diagram. Compositional relations have been used to assess the origin of solutes and confirm the predominant hydrogeochemical processes responsible for the various ions in the groundwater. The results show that the ions are derived from leaching effect, evaporation and condensation, cation exchange, mixing effect and human activities. Finally groundwater quality was assessed with single factor and set pair methods, the results indicate that groundwater quality in the study region is generally poor in terms of standard of national groundwater quality. The results obtained in this study will be useful to understand the groundwater quality status for effective management and utilization of the groundwater resource.

Although enantioselective sorption to soil particles has been proposed as a mechanism that can potentially influence the availability of individual chiral pesticide enantiomers in the environment, environmental fate studies generally overlook this possibility and assume that only biotic processes can be enantioselective, whereas abiotic processes, such as sorption, are non-enantioselective. In this work, we present direct evidence for the effect of the enantioselective sorption of a chiral pesticide in a natural soil on the availability of the single pesticide enantiomers for transport. Batch sorption experiments, with direct determination of the sorbed amounts, combined with column leaching tests confirmed previous observations that from non-racemic aqueous solutions the sorption of the chiral fungicide metalaxyl on the soil appeared to be enantioselective, and further demonstrated that the enantiomer that was sorbed to a greater extent (R-metalaxyl, Kd = 1.73 L/kg) exhibited retarded leaching compared to its optical isomer (S-metalaxyl, Kd = 1.15 L/kg). Interconversion and degradation of the pesticide enantiomers, which are potential experimental artifacts that can lead to erroneous estimates of sorption and its enantioselectivity, were discarded as possible causes of the observed enantioselective behavior. The results presented here may have very important implications for a correct assessment of the environmental fate of chiral pesticides that are incorporated into the environment as non-racemic mixtures, and also of aged chiral pesticide residues that have been transformed from racemic to non-racemic by biologically-mediated processes.

Understanding the mechanisms of ¹³⁷Cs movement across different ecosystems is crucial for projecting the environmental impact and management of nuclear contamination events. Here, we report differential movement of ¹³⁷Cs in adjacent forest and stream ecosystems. The food webs of the forest and stream ecosystems in our study were similar, in that they were both dominated by detrital-based food webs and the basal energy source was terrestrial litter. However, the concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in stream litter was significantly lower than in forest litter, the result of ¹³⁷Cs leaching from litter in stream water. The difference in ¹³⁷Cs concentrations between the two types of litter was reflected in the ¹³⁷Cs concentrations in the animal community. While the importance of ¹³⁷Cs fallout and the associated transfer to food webs has been well studied, research has been primarily limited to cases in a single ecosystem. Our results indicate that there are differences in the flow of ¹³⁷Cs through terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and that ¹³⁷Cs concentrations are reduced in both basal food resources and higher trophic animals in aquatic systems, where primary production is subsidized by a neighboring terrestrial ecosystem.

In this study, a biochar-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI@BC) material was used for in situ remediation of hexavalent chromium-contaminated soil. Sedimentation tests and column experiments were used to compare the stability and mobility of nZVI@BC and bare-nZVI. The immobilisation efficiency of chromium, toxic effect of chromium and the content of iron were assessed through leaching tests and pot experiments. Sedimentation tests and transport experiments indicated that nZVI@BC with nZVI to BC mass ratio of 1:1 exhibited better stability and mobility than that of bare-nZVI. The immobilisation efficiency of Cr(VI) and Crtotal was 100% and 92.9%, respectively, when the soil was treated with 8 g/kg of nZVI@BC for 15 days. Moreover, such remediation effectively reduced the leachability of Fe caused by bare-nZVI. In addition, pot experiments showed that such remediation reduced the phytotoxicity of Cr and the leachable Fe and was favourable for plant growth.

Heavy metal(loid) rich ash (≤10,000 mg kg−1 total As, Cr, Cu and Zn) originating from the combustion of contaminated wood was subjected to several experimental procedures involving its incorporation into an upland pasture soil. Ash was added to soil that had been prior amended with local cattle manure, replicating practices employed at the farm scale. Metal(loid) concentrations were measured in soil pore water and ryegrass grown on soil/manure plus ash mixtures (0.1–3.0% vol. ash) in a pot experiment; toxicity evaluation was performed on the same pore water samples by means of a bacterial luminescence biosensor assay. Thereafter a sequential extraction procedure was carried out on selected soil, manure and ash mixtures to elucidate the geochemical association of ash derived metal(loid)s with soil constituents. Predictive modelling was applied to selected data from the pot experiment to determine the risk of transfer of As to meat and milk products in cattle grazing pasture amended with ash.The inclusion of manure to soils receiving ash reduced phyto-toxicity and increased ryegrass biomass yields, compared to soil with ash, but without manure. Elevated As and Cu concentrations in pore water and ryegrass tissue resulting from ash additions were reduced furthest by the inclusion of manure due to an increase in their geochemical association with organic matter. Zinc was the only measured metal(loid) to remain uniformly soluble and bioavailable regardless of the addition of ash and manure. Risk modelling on pot experimental data highlighted that an ash addition of >1% (vol.) to this pasture soil could result in As concentrations in milk and meat products exceeding acceptable limits.The results of this study therefore suggest that even singular low doses of ash applied to soil increase the risk of leaching of metal(loid)s and intensify the risk of As transfer in the food chain.