Long-Term Transformation and Redistribution of Potentially Toxic Heavy Metals in Arid-Zone Soils: II. Incubation at the Field Capacity Moisture Content

Solid-phase transformation of added Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn, in two arid-zone soils incubated in the field capacity moisture regime for one year, were studied. The heavy metals were fractionated into six empirically defined fractions using a selective sequential dissolution (SSD) protocol optimized for arid-zone soils. Each of these fractions was named based on the major soil component targeted for dissolution during the specific SSD step, but it is not assumed that they are mineralogically and chemically totally specific. The transformations of the metals in the two soils incubated at the field capacity regime were compared with those at the moisture saturation regime (Han and Banin, 1997). An initial fast stage of transformation of the soluble metals from the exchangeable (EXC) fraction to the less labile fractions (the carbonate (CARB) fraction for Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni and Cu, and the organic matter (OM) fraction for Cr, and to some extent Cu and Ni) occurred during the fractionation and within one hour after addition. This was followed by a second stage, involving long-term transformation processes of all metals: added Cd was transferred from the EXC into the CARB fraction; added Cr was transferred from the CARB to the OM fraction and Pb was transferred very slowly to the easily reducible oxide (ERO) fraction. Added Cu, Ni and Zn were transferred from the EXC and CARB fractions into the ERO fraction and to some extent OM and RO fractions. In Part I of this series, we reported that during incubation in the saturated moisture regime, Zn and Ni were transferred mainly into the RO and OM fractions. Cadmium, Cr and Pb underwent the same transformation pathways during the slow long-term process, with slightly different rates, in both water regimes. At low levels of addition, the incubated soils moved over one year towards a distribution similar to that of the native soil. At higher levels, the soils still remained removed from the quasi-equilibrium which characterized the native soil, even at the end of one year of incubation.