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Impact of a severe flood on large-scale contamination of arable soils by potentially toxic elements (Serbia)

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Abstract

Extreme flooding in May, 2014 affected the sub-catchments of six major rivers in Serbia. The goal of the study was to evaluate the contents of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) As, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, and Zn in flood sediments and arable soils within the affected sub-catchments using regulatory guidelines and background levels. The sub-catchment of West Morava was selected to assess the degree of sediments and soils contamination and environmental risk [using the Pollution index (Pi), Enrichment factor, Geo-accumulation index, and Potential ecological risk index (PERI)] as well as to identify main PTEs sources by Principal component (PCA) and cluster analysis. Contents of Ni, Cr, As, Pb, and Cu above both guidelines and background levels, and of Zn and Cd above background levels were detected in the sediments and soils from all the sub-catchments. Pi indicted that about 95% of the soils and sediments were extremely polluted by Ni and about 65% slightly polluted by Cr, whereas about 90% were not polluted by As, Cd, Pb, Cu, or Zn. Ef indicated minor to moderate enrichment of the soils and sediments by Ni, and Cr. PCA differentiated a geogenic origin of Ni, Cr, As, and Pb, a mixed origin of Cd and Zn, and a predominantly anthropogenic origin of Cu. PERI of the soils and sediments suggested a low overall multi-element ecological risk. The ecological risk of the individual elements (E ir ) for soils was Zn < Cr < Pb < Ni < Cu < As < Cd.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Science and Technological Development (Projects III 43007, 37006, and 173018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Neman**a 6, Belgrade, 11 080, Serbia

    Svetlana Antić-Mladenović, Mirjana Kresović & Vlado Ličina

  2. Department of Ecology, Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, 1060, Serbia

    Dragan Čakmak & Veljko Perović

  3. Soil Science Institute, Teodora Drajzera 7, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    Elmira Saljnikov

  4. Institute of Foundation Engineering Water- and Waste-Management, Soil- and Groundwater-Management, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Wuppertal, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285, Wuppertal, Germany

    Jörg Rinklebe

  5. Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Guang**-Gu, Seoul, South Korea

    Jörg Rinklebe

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  1. Svetlana Antić-Mladenović
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  2. Mirjana Kresović
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Correspondence to Svetlana Antić-Mladenović.

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Antić-Mladenović, S., Kresović, M., Čakmak, D. et al. Impact of a severe flood on large-scale contamination of arable soils by potentially toxic elements (Serbia). Environ Geochem Health 41, 249–266 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0138-4

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