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Ecological risk assessment of mercury and chromium in greenhouse soils

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Abstract

Very little information is available about Hg and Cr evolution in greenhouse soils. This paper presents the results of determining Hg and Cr in greenhouse soils in a semi-arid region in the southern Iberian Peninsula (Almería, Spain), and assessing the enrichment level and the Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) according to crop age. Hakanson’s approach was used to evaluate the PERI. To investigate the behaviour of Hg and Cr in greenhouse soils over time, samples were grouped into values in soils for blocks according to crop age: 0 years, 5–10 years, 10–20 years, more than 20 years. The results showed that 74% of GS exceeded the obtained background level (37.1 μg kg−1) for Hg, with 43% (48.9 mg kg−1) for Cr. Temporal patterns indicated that these elements are accumulating in greenhouse soils and this trend was very significant for Hg. After more than 20 intensive crop-farming years, concentrations and the PERI had clearly increased. Although the ecological risk was moderate, our observations suggest that the farming practices performed in the last 35 years have allowed these metals to accumulate. In fact, the 15% of the studied soils presented a considerable potential risk and were the soils that had been used longer.

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Acknowledgements

This research was sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Projects AGL2011-29382 and CGL2013-43675-P.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dpto. Didáctica Ciencias Sociales y Experimentales, Universidad de Córdoba, Avda. San Alberto Magno s/n, Córdoba, 14071, Spain

    José Joaquín Ramos-Miras

  2. Escuela Superior de Ingeniería, Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad de Almería, Ctra. Sacramento s/n, 04120, La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Spain

    Carlos Gil

  3. Departamento de Medio Ambiente, INIA - Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria, Ctra. de La Coruña, km 7,5, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José Antonio Rodríguez Martín

  4. Departamento de Edafología, Universitat de Barcelona, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 585, 08007, Barcelona, Spain

    Jaume Bech

  5. Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Farmacia, Universitat de València, Av Vicent Andrés i Estellés s/n, 46100, Burjassot, Valencia, Spain

    Rafael Boluda

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  1. José Joaquín Ramos-Miras
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  5. Rafael Boluda
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Correspondence to Rafael Boluda.

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Ramos-Miras, J.J., Gil, C., Rodríguez Martín, J.A. et al. Ecological risk assessment of mercury and chromium in greenhouse soils. Environ Geochem Health 42, 313–324 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-019-00354-y

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