Abstract
Critical load of trace metals in soils is a function of biological uptake, leaching by percolating water, input of the trace metals due to bedrock weathering, and the norms set to protect soils from metal pollution. The exceedance of the critical load is a difference between the calculated load and the measured input of the metals by atmospheric deposition and by application of agrochemicals. A critical time is the time when the concentration of a trace metal in soil, which is the result of all inputs and outputs of the metal in the soil, reaches the value of the norm. Data on biologically important trace metals in a small agricultural catchment in the Czech Republic indicate that the soil concentrations of As, Cd and Pb will reach the norms set for the soils after 4.5, 61, and 980 years, respectively. The present mass balances of Cu and Zn in the soils indicate that their steady-state concentrations will be below the norms so that the atmospheric and agricultural inputs will never overshoot the calculated critical load.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beneš, S.: 1993, Obsahy a bilance prvků ve sférách Ž ivotní ho prostř edi, Part. I, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Praha, (in Czech).
Beneš, S.: 1994, Obsahy a bilance prvků ve sférách Ž ivotní ho prostř edi, Part. II, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Praha, (in Czech).
Bernquist, B.: 1986a, Metal Fluxes in Spruce and Beech Forest Ecosystems of South Sweden, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Ecology, University of Lund, Lund.
Bernquist, B.: 1986 b, Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 31, 901.
Bernquist, B.: 1987, Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 33, 131.
de Vries, W. and Bakker, D.J.: 1996, Manual for Calculating Critical Loads of Heavy Metals for Soils and Surface Waters, Report 114, DLO Winand Staring Centre, Wageningen, TNO Institute of Environmental Sciences, Delf.
Jones, J.B.: 1990, Comm. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 21, 1091.
Lindsay, W.L. and Norvell, W.A.: 1978, Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 42, 421.
Mehlich, A.: 1978, Comm. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 9, 477.
Mehlich, A.: 1984, Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 15, 1409.
Nilsson, J. and Grennfelt, P. (eds.): 1988, Critical Loads for Sulfur and Nitrogen, Report from a Workshop at Skokloster, Sweden, March 1988, Miljo rapport 1988 15, Nordie Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.
Pačes, T., Moldan, B., Drábek, K., and Zukriegelová, M.: 1975, Geochemie prostfiedi modelového povodi Trnávky: Metodika a dilči výsledky, Archive of the Czech Geological Survey, Praha, (in Czech).
Pačes, T.: 1985, Nature, 315, 31.
Pačes, T.: 1986, J. Geol. Soc. of London, 143, 673.
Pačes, T.: 1991, ‘Changes in Rates of Weathering and Erosion Induced by Acid Emissions and Agriculture in Central Europe’, in F.M. Brower, A.J. Thomas and M.J. Chadwick (eds), Land Use Changes in Europe, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 317–323.
Regulation: 1994, Regulation of Ministry of Environment for Agricultural Soil Protection, Act No. 13/1994, Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic, Prague.
Vrubel, J., Pačes, T., Čejková, G., Kantor, Č., Majer V., Sáňka, M., Trojáček, P. and Zapletal, M.: 1996, Critical Loads of Heavy Metals for Soils in Czech Republic-Draft. Ekotoxa, Opava and Czech Geological Survey, Prague.
Wolf, B.: 1982, Comm. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 13, 1005.
Zbiral, J.: 1995, Analýza půd I, jednotnépracovni postupy, State Institute for Agriculture Supervision and Testing, Brno (in Czech).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pačes, T. Critical Loads of Trace Metals in Soils: a Method of Calculation. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 105, 451–458 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005016500956
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005016500956