Study of copper, lead, and zinc speciation in the Haplic Chernozem surrounding coal-fired power plant

Abstract The speciation of Cu, Pb, and Zn compounds in Haplic Chernozem under the anthropogenic impact of a power plant mainly operating on coal was studied. General tendencies in the distributions of Cu, Pb, and Zn among the compound forms were revealed using selective sequential extractions (Miller method modified by Berti and Jacobs (1996)), which is based on the nature of metals and the participation of soil components. In an uncontaminated soil occurring far from the emission source, 55–85% of total Cu, Zn, and Pb fractions are concentrated in the residual fraction characterizing the metal bond with silicates. In uncontaminated soils, the contents of Cu, Pb, and Zn in crystallized Fe compounds are largely higher than in its amorphous forms. Metals accumulate in the soil occurring near the power plant, which increases the total contents of Cu, Pb, and Zn in 1.3–2.5 times and their mobile (water-soluble, exchangeable, and carbonate-bound) compounds in 2–12 times. The largest contributions to the adsorption and retention of metals are made by silicates, as well as soil organic matter for Cu and Pb and nonsilicate Fe compounds for Zn. A significant increase in the exchangeable Zn fraction is observed in studied soils. The estimation of the degree of metal fixation in the soil was calculated Partition index of element, which reflects the degree of metal-soil bonding. It showed that the highest parameter value for the studied metals was found for the soils located at 15 km from the NPP, where the Index values approach 1; the lowest Index value is noted for contaminated soils nearby from the enterprise. Thus, sequential extraction is an effective tool to check the affinity of the soil components for Cu, Pb and Zn.