Particle-facilitated pesticide leaching from differently structured soil monoliths.

The leaching of soil particles and surface applied 14C-labeled glyphosate and pendimethalin from intact soil columns (height: 50 cm; diameter: 30 cm) were investigated, and the relative significance of particle-facilitated pesticide transport was quantified. Investigations were performed with a recently plowed (four columns) and an untilled (five columns) sandy loam soil. Leaching was driven by three irrigation events (15 mm h(-1); 2 h each). Samples of the leachate were filtered immediately (within 1.5 minutes) using 20 nm filters, and the 14C-pesticide content was determined for filtered and unfiltered samples. Pesticide leaching was driven by preferential water flow in macropores. For the plowed structure, 68+/-10% of the leached glyphosate (average of 6 events+/-std.) was bound to particles whereas significantly less glyphosate was bound to particles in leachate from minimally disturbed columns (17+/-12%). Thus, the results suggest that soil structure affected the mode of transport of glyphosate. It is likely that glyphosate sorbed strongly when applied on recently plowed soil (Kd=503 L kg(-1) for the soil), and that it could be mobilized and transported independently of soil particles more easily when applied on the minimally disturbed soil covered in part with crop residues (Kd<1 L kg(-1) for straw). Significantly less amounts of soil particles were leached from minimally disturbed (119-247 mg) than from recently plowed (441-731 mg) columns. The significance of particle-facilitated pendimethalin leaching could not be accurately quantified due to disagreement between control measurements based on both 14C-activity and chemical analyses.

Influence of plant growth on degradation of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate in sludge-amended soil.

Widespread application of sewage sludge to agricultural soils in Denmark has led to concern about the possible accumulation and effects of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in the soil ecosystem. Therefore, we have studied the uptake and degradation of LAS in greenhouse pot experiments. Sewage sludge was incorporated into a sandy soil to give a range from very low to very high applications (0.4 to 90 Mg dry wt. ha(-1)). In addition, LAS was added as water solutions. The soil was transferred to pots and sown with barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Apex), rape (Brassica napus L. cv. Hyola 401), or carrot (Daucus carota L.). Also, plant-free controls were established. For all additions there was no plant uptake above the detection limit at 0.5 mg LAS kg(-1) d.w, but plant growth stimulated the degradation. With a growth period of 30 d, LAS concentrations in soil from pots with rape had dropped from 27 to 1.4 mg kg(-1) dry wt., but in plant-free pots the concentration decreased only to 2.4 mg kg(-1) dry wt. When LAS was added as a spike, the final concentration in soil from planted pots was 0.7 mg kg(-1) dry wt., but in pots without plants the final concentration was much higher (2.5 mg kg(-1) dry wt.). During degradation, the relative fraction of homologues C10, C11, and C12 decreased, while C13 increased.

Sorption of polycyclic aromatic compounds to humic and fulvic acid HPLC column materials.

Two different humic acids (HA) and a fulvic acid (FA) were chemically immobilized to a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) silica column material. The immobilization was performed by binding amino groups in HA/FA to the free aldehyde group in glutardialdehyde attached to the silica gel. The HPLC column materials were compared with a blank column material made by applying the same procedure but without immobilizing HA or FA. Also, a column was made by binding carbonyl groups in HA to amino groups attached to the silica gel. The humic substances were selected to secure appropriate variation of their structural features. The retention factors of 45 polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC) to the four columns were determined by HPLC. The advantage of the technique is a large number of compounds can easily be studied. The binding procedure does not appear to cause a drastic selection between the HA molecules. The k' values obtained for the two Aldrich HA columns agree in general reasonably. The retention or sorption of the compounds increased with the size of the PAC and the number of lipophilic substituents, but decreased when polar substituents were present. The PAC retention was much stronger to the two HA columns than to the FA and blank column, both for hydrophobic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and the polar PAC. Other factors impacting the PAC binding may be specific interactions with HA and the ionic strength of the aqueous phase. The technique has been applied to do direct determinations of Koc.

Artificial recharge of humic ground water.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of soil in removing natural organic matter from humic ground waters using artificial recharge. The study site, in western Denmark, was a 10,000 ml football field of which 2,000 m2 served as an infiltration field. The impact of the artificial recharge was studied by monitoring the water level and the quality of the underlying shallow aquifer. The humic ground water contained mainly humic adds with an organic carbon (OC) concentration of 100 to 200 mg C L(-1). A total of 5,000 mS of humic ground water were sprinkled onto the infiltration field at an average rate of 4.25 mm h(-1). This resulted in a rise in the water table of the shallow aquifer. The organic matter concentration of the water in the shallow aquifer, however, remained below 2.7 mg C L(-1). The organic matter concentration of the pore water in the unsaturated zone was measured at the end of the experiment. The organic matter concentration of the pore water decreased from 105 mg C L(-1) at 0.5 m to 20 mg C L(-1) at 2.5 m under the infiltration field indicating that the soil removed the organic matter from the humic ground water. From these results we conclude that artificial recharge is a possible method for humic ground water treatment.

Formation of chloroform in spruce forest soil--results from laboratory incubation studies.

The release of chloroform, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, tetrachloromethane, trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene from an organic rich spruce forest soil was studied in laboratory incubation experiments by dynamic headspace analysis, thermodesorption and gas chromatography. Performance parameters are presented for the dynamic headspace system. For spruce forest soil, the results showed a significant increase in chloroform concentration in the headspace under aerobic conditions over a period of seven days, whereas the concentration of the other compounds remained fairly constant. A biogenic formation of chloroform is suggested, whereas for the other compounds anthropogenic sources are assumed. The addition of trichloroacetic acid to the soil increased the release of chloroform from the soil. It is, therefore, suggested that trichloroacetic acid also contributed to the formation of chloroform. Under the experimental conditions, the spruce forest soil released chloroform concentrations corresponding to a rate of 12 microg m(-2) day(-1). Data on chloroform production rates are presented and compared with literature results, and possible formation mechanisms for chloroform are discussed.

Adsorption of Benzoic Acid on Synthetic Calcite Dispersed in Cyclohexane as a Function of Temperature.

The adsorption of benzoic acid on synthetic calcite dispersed in cyclohexane has been studied between 296 and 346 K. The results can be successfully explained by a two-step model involving a Langmuir adsorption of first a layer of molecules oriented parallel to the surface and next, as the concentration of the adsorbate in the liquid phase increases, a gradual replacement of this layer with a monolayer of molecules oriented perpendicular to the surface. The maximum adsorption of benzoic acid in the perpendicular oriented monolayer has been determined to be 7.345 µmol/m2, independent of the temperature, and close to the theoretical value of 7.4 µmol/m2. The Langmuir constant for the second step, in which parallel adsorbed molecules are replaced by perpendicular adsorbed ones, varies from 2 x 10(3) L/mol at 296 K to 16 x 10(3) L/mol at 346 K, and the enthalpy and entropy changes associated with this part of the adsorption process are 37.9 kJ/mol and 0.191 kJ/mol K, respectively. In the same temperature interval the Langmuir constant for the first step of the adsorption process involving parallely adsorbed benzoic acid molecules is estimated to be fairly constant, and within a factor of 2 from the best fit value of 33 x 10(3) L/mol. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.