Edafología. Volumen 7-3. Septiembre 2000. pág 251-265

Abstract

The mobility of five metals (Copper, Chromium, Nickel, Lead and Zinc) was studied in relation to the edaphic constitution of three soils: cambisols, luvisols and fluvisols, in both natural and contaminated conditions. We have found that in Ni and Zn, the same principal fractions are correlated with each other (r-values between 0.765 and 0.822), with a singnificant difference of P 5% for both contaminated and uncontaminated soils, indicating similar behaviour of these metals.

In the rest of the metals, there no significant correlations between contaminated and uncontaminated soils. Considering the type of soil, luvisols maintain the association with the same fractions, whether or not they are contaminated. However, in cambisols and fluvisols, the fraction to which the metals are associated varies according to the quantity of metal, but normally they associate with those having less bioavailability.

Key words: Heavy metals, bioavailability, sequential extraction, natural soils