US EPA

1677545 

Journal Article 

Historical arsenic contamination of soil due to long-term phosphate fertiliser applications 

Hartley, TN; Macdonald, AJ; Mcgrath, SP; Zhao, FJ 

2013 

Yes 

Environmental Pollution
ISSN: 0269-7491
EISSN: 1873-6424 

ELSEVIER SCI LTD 

OXFORD 

180 

259-264 

English 

23792386 

10.1016/j.envpol.2013.05.034 

WOS:000322425300035 

Archived samples from the Park Grass Experiment, established in 1856, were analysed to determine the impacts of long-term phosphate fertiliser applications on arsenic concentrations in soil and herbage. In plots receiving 35 kg P ha(-1) annually (+P), topsoil As concentrations almost doubled from an initial value of ∼10 mg kg(-1) during 1888-1947 and remained stable thereafter. The phosphate fertilisers used before 1948 contained 401-1575 mg As kg(-1), compared to 1.6-20.3 mg As kg(-1) in the later samples. Herbage samples from the +P plots collected during 1888-1947 contained significantly more As than those from the -P plots, but later samples did not differ significantly. Mass-balance calculations show that the increase in soil As can be explained by the As input from P fertiliser applications before 1948. The results demonstrate that the P fertilisers used on the Park Grass Experiment before 1948 caused substantial As contamination of the soil. 

Arsenic; Herbage; Phosphate fertiliser; Soil contamination