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SEGH Newsletters

Dear Members,

Now towards the end of November 2002, I have just completed this issue of INTERFACE. You will find a report from the 20th European Conference of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 4-6 September, 2002, Debrecen, Hungary – the first to be held in mainland Europe. This was a successful meeting that attracted non-SEGH members from several countries as well as current SEGH (Europe) members. The 21st European Conference will be held in Brighton in 2004, as the ISEG 2003 meeting is being held in Edinburgh in September 2003. Details of the next Asia-Pacific Conference (scheduled for 2004) will appear in the next issue of INTERFACE.

The new Committee membership for 2002-03 for the European section is listed on p5 and the updated contact details have been incorporated into the Executive Board membership list on p7.

Following on from the August issue of INTERFACE, I can now tell you that the new Editor of EGAH is Professor Ming Wong of the Institute for Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China.

Margaret Graham
(Margaret.Graham@ed.ac.uk)

University of Edinburgh
November 2002

 

The 20th European Conference of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health - Heavy Metal Contamination and the Quality of Life was held in Debrecen, Hungary, 4-6 September 2002. The opening remarks were given by Professor Zoltán Györi (University of Debrecen) and the keynote lecture on “The long-term nature of Cr(VI) retention and release at former chromite ore processing residue disposal sites in an urban environment – implications for the quality of life” was presented by Dr. John G. Farmer (President, SEGH; University of Edinburgh).

The meeting, organised by Dr. Bela Kovacs, Professor Zoltán Györi, Dr. József Prokisch, Dr. László Simon and Ms. Ildikó Szegvári, was well attended and there were ~30 oral presentations and more than 50 poster presentations. These covered many aspects of heavy metal geochemistry and included studies of contamination in urban, agricultural and industrial areas. Several presentations also focused on the impact on human health. The presentations were grouped under six main themes: (I) Metals in the environment; (II) Metals in soil-plant systems; (III) The environment and human health; (IV) Metals in aquatic systems; (V) Contaminants in aquatic systems and in mining-processing-related wastes; (VI) Heavy metal speciation in soils and sediments.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Malcolm Brown (Secretary, SEGH (Europe); BGS) chaired the Annual General Meeting of SEGH (Europe). Committee members for 2002-03 were elected at the AGM (listed p 5).
The conference dinner, held in the Cívis Grand Hotel Aranybika, was followed by the presentation of oral and poster prizes to the winning students. The abstracts for each of these are printed on p 3-4.

A visit to a zeolite mine and a wine-tasting near Tokaj, to the north of Debrecen, brought an end to a most enjoyable meeting, the first to be held in mainland Europe but certainly not the last! The photographs (opposite), showing some of the conference highlights, are just a few of those appearing on the conference website:
www.date.hu/~varal/segh/

Margaret Graham
University of Edinburgh,
November, 2002

 

Abstracts – Oral Presentation Prize-winners

Rhizosphere processes involved in arsenic hyperaccumulation by Pteris vittata and Pteris cretica
Walter J. Fitz1 and Walter W. Wenzel1*, A. Mentler1, P. Schweiger3 G. Köllensperger2 and J. Nurmi2 (1Institute of Soil Research, University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna – BOKU, AUSTRIA; 2Institute of Chemistry, University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna – BOKU, AUSTRIA; 3Institute of Ecology and Conservation Biology, University of Vienna, AUSTRIA)
Though considerable progress has been made in reducing atmospheric inputs of As in Western Europe, pollution by As and other trace elements at a large scale can still occur as shown by the Doñana ecological disaster in southern Spain. Phytoremediation, the use of green plants to clean up contaminated soil, has attracted much attention during the last two decades (McGrath et al., 1993). However, only recently the ferns Pteris vittata an Pityrogramma calomelanos have been discovered to hyperaccumulate As in aerial plant parts (Ma et al., 2001; Francesconi et al., 2002). It has been reported that biomass production of P. vittata increased after As additions (Tu et al., 2002), suggesting at least the status of a beneficial element for this plant. Hence, root-induced manipulation in the rhizosphere of As-hyperaccumulator plants can be anticipated to facilitate As acquisition.
We conducted a rhizobox experiment, comparing As accumulation and rhizosphere characteristics of P. vittata and the close relative P. cretica, grown on soil containing geogenic As, in order to identify root-induced rhizosphere processes potentially involved in the phenomenon of As-hyperaccumulation. We found that P. cretica is equally able to hyperaccumulate As in fronds and manipulate the rhizosphere as P. vittata. Mean As concentrations in fronds were 2365 and 2038 mg kg-1 whereas root concentrations accounted only 68 and 198 mg kg-1 for P. cretica and P.vittata, respectively. Measurements of redox potential and water extractable As and Fe suggest root-induced co-dissolution of As from Fe-oxides/hydroxides. The difference between labile As (0.05 M (NH4)2SO4 extractable) in bulk and rhizosphere soil accounted only for 9.2 (P.vittata) and 13.8 (P.cretica) % of total As accumulated in the ferns, indicating that As was primarily acquired from less available pools.
Our results suggest that rhizosphere processes play a significant role in the phenomenon of As hyperaccumulation.

Concentrations and health implications of selected least studied minor trace elements in the UK Peak District.
Sohel Q Saikat1, Joy E Carter1, Aradhana Mehra1, Barry Smith2 (1School of Environmental and Applied Sciences, University of Derby, UK; 2The British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, UK)
Carboniferous Limestone of the UK Peak District has been mined for lead, copper and zinc since Romano-British times, and for fluorspar since the second World War. The historical mining has resulted in extensive contamination of the environment with lead, copper and zinc. Little information is available however on the concentrations and health aspects of minor trace elements such as arsenic, selenium, mercury, fluorine and iodine. Historically the people of this area suffered from Iodine Deficiency Diseases. The aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of links between the environmental concentrations and behaviour of arsenic, selenium, mercury, iodine and fluorine, and their health effects. Concentrations and mobility of these elements have been determined in selected areas including an active mining site of the Peak District where samples of water, soil, vegetation and sediment have been collected. Pyrohydrolysis at 1060°C was employed using V2O5 as a flux for the release of iodine and fluorine from geochemical samples. Subsequently, determination was done by automated colorimetry. In the case of metal detection, samples were digested with aqua regia and analysed by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. The extent of contamination as a result of current mining was found to be limited to the mining area and its immediate environment. No significant health effects have been identified in people, but cattle are known to exhibit signs of toxicity from lead and fluorine. Mobility of mother trace elements was found to be primarily controlled by adsorption to sediments and soils in relatively high alkaline conditions. Iodine levels in soils and sediments are neither low nor high compared to the World average and the reason for the former iodine deficiency diseases is an area of continuing investigation.

Abstracts – Poster Presentation Prize-winners

Effects of soil bacteria on the uptake of cadmium and other trace elements from contaminated soils by lettuce
Jin Hee Park, Hyo Taek Chon (School of Civil, Urban, and Geosystem Engineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, KOREA)
Microorganisms in soils can alter metal mobility and can have effects on plant uptake of heavy metals. Bacteria can leach metals from soils, adsorb metals on their cell wall and accumulate metals intracellular matrix. Bacteria that can adsorb Cd and heavy metals were isolated from soils of abandoned metal mine area in South Korea and they were adapted to Cd. Cd adsorption capacity of isolated bacteria was characterized according to living or non-living biomass, contact time, pH, competing heavy metals and growth stages of bacteria. The Cd bioremoval efficiency in solution using bacteria was more than 90%. Non-living biomass had higher Cd bioremoval efficiency than living biomass and adsorption of Cd to bacterial cell wall was completed within 30 minutes. Optimal pH for maximum Cd bioremoval was 7. Bioremoval efficiency in single metal solution was higher than mixed metal solution of Cd, Pb and Zn. The Cd selective uptake was observed. As bacterial growth progressed, Cd bioremoval efficiency was increased. Maximum adsorption capacity of bacteria was 15.63 mg/g biomass. Pot experiments were carried out to estimate influence of isolated bacteria on the transfer of Cd and other heavy metals from contaminated soil to lettuce. For these experiments expanded perlite was used that can immobilize bacterial movement and support good growth. Perlite-based inoculants can reduce Cd, Cr and Zn concentrations in lettuce leaves when high amount of heavy metal concentrations were presented But, non-perlite-based inoculants increased heavy metal concentrations in lettuce leaves. In the roots of lettuce, heavy metal concentrations were lower when bacteria were inoculated.

Preliminary data on topsoil proprieties from Bucharest, Romania
Éva Beno1, Cristina E. Panaiotu1, Cristian G. Panaiotu1, Valerica Axente2, Aurelio Facchinelli3 (1University of Bucharest, Department of Mineralogy, Romania; 2University of Bucharest, Department of Geochemistry, Romania; 3 Università degli Studi di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienze Mineralogiche e Petrologiche, Italy)
An ongoing project is dealing with topsoil complex investigations to reveal the presence of heavy metal pollution of the biggest city in Romania. Bucharest concentrates a lot of heavy industry (industrial machinery factories, battery factory, factory for electromagnetic products, etc) and 5 big power plants. All these industries are potential soil pollution centres. Until the last century the main domestic heating system in Bucharest was based on wood and coal burning. Starting 20-30 years ago, new power plants were built based on oil burning system.
We collected samples along the outside road ring of Bucharest, from natural forests around the city and from the internal parks and gardens. All samples have been analysed for magnetic and geochemical proprieties. Samples from parks inside Bucharest, which represented the first stage of this project, showed a good correlation between these two methods. Thus, we were encouraged to extend our studies towards the external ring of the city and towards the nearby forests where from the present data are reported. In the Bucharest laboratory, we measured: pH, calcimetry, organic matter content and granulometry to characterize the soil samples texture and organic composition. The main metal distributions have been measured at geochemical laboratory from University of Torino. Magnetic proprieties such as frequency dependent susceptibility have been measured in the Paleomagnetic Laboratory from Bucharest University.
A correlation between all these data will be presented and discussions about methods which can be used as a proxy for detection of the heavy metal pollution of the topsoil around an industrial centre.

A methodology to assess mobility of heavy metals at a contaminated site in Walsall, England.
Richard Wesson (University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK)
This study demonstrates how leaching tests can be combined with groundwater data to assess risk posed by heavy metal contaminated soil on a site specific basis. Samples were taken from a site in Walsall, West Midlands, which had previously received industrial waste from an adjacent copper refining plant. Whilst the site is inland, anecdotal evidence suggests that it has in the past been responsible for contributing a significant amount of pollution to the North Sea via the Trent river system. The samples were analysed for total copper, cadmium, lead and zinc content using ICP. Leaching tests were carried out on the samples to assess the mobility of the heavy metals present in the soil, using water at a neutral pH. A methodology was devised that enabled leachate free water to be constantly cycled over the soil samples. This was compared with traditional batch leaching methodologies. Subsequent tests were carried out to assess the potential solubility of the metals present under reduced pH.
Groundwater flow and the pH regime of the site were established with reference to borehole data. This enabled a risk assessment for residential properties and surface water in the vicinity of the site to be carried out, which was compared with the UK Environmental Agency’s CLEA model. The risk assessment took into account the following factors:
1. Direction of groundwater flow;
2. Mobility of the contaminants present on the site;
3. The potential for changes in pH regime to solubilise further contaminants.
The data gained by this methodology will enable an accurate assessment to be made of the potential risks posed this site. It is expected that the leaching methodology that was developed will eliminate the concentration gradient effects that are potentially present in batch leaching tests.

 

 

 

SEGH (Europe) Committee Members – 2002-03

Chairman: Aradhana Mehra (University of Derby)
Treasurer: Kevin Taylor (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Secretary: Malcolm Brown (BGS, Keyworth)
Membership Secretary: Susan Casper

Members: Margaret Graham (University of Edinburgh)
Michael Ramsey (University of Sussex)
Alex Stewart (Liverpool)
Sohel Saikat (University of Derby)

Ex-Officio (past Chairpersons): Joy Carter (University of Glamorgan)
John Farmer (University of Edinburgh)
Ron Fuge (University of Wales, Aberystwyth)
Iain Thornton (Imperial College)

Update on the 6th International Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry, Edinburgh, Scotland, 7-11 September, 2003

By the time you read this, in the first quarter of 2003, the deadline for submission of abstracts for ISEG 2003 will have passed. Indeed, authors may already have received news of the decisions of the Scientific Programme Committee, who will have been assembling the lecture and poster programme during January and February 2003. For up-to-date information on all aspects of the Symposium, please continue to visit the www.ISEG2003.com website.

John G. Farmer
ISEG 2003 Chairman
University of Edinburgh

 

 

 

Meetings of Interest

Heavy Metals in the Environment

Location: Grenoble, France
Dates: 26-30 May, 2003
Contact: Christophe Ferrari
Maître de conférences à l'Université Joseph Fourier Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement du CNRS

7th International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements (ICOBTE)

Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Dates: 15-19 June, 2003
Contact: SLU Conference,
(7thICOBTE@slu.se)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7059, Uppsala, Sweden
The meeting will include a session on Medical Geology.

6th International Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry (ISEG)

Location: Edinburgh, UK
Dates: 7-11 September, 2003
Website: www.iseg2003.com
Contact: Dr. John G. Farmer
(J.G.Farmer@ed.ac.uk)
School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JJ, UK

5th International Conference on Environmental Geochemistry in the Tropics (GEOTROP03)

Location: Haikou, Hainan, China
Dates 26-31 October, 2003
Website:
Contact:

7th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP)

Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Dates: 27 June- 2 July, 2004
Contact: Dr. Milena Horvat
(milena.horvat@ijs.si)
Department of Environmental Sciences, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Acid Rain 2005 (7th International Conference on Acid Deposition)

Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Dates: June 2005
Contact: acid2005@chmi.cz
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Santroch Jaroslav, Na Sabatce 17, CZ-143 06 Prague 4, Czech Republic

 

President John G. Farmer
University of Edinburgh,
Scotland (J.G.Farmer@ed.ac.uk)

Vice-President Andrew Hunt
SUNY Upstate Medical
University, Syracuse, NY,
USA (hunta@upstate.edu)

Secretary Bobby G. Wixson
(Past-Pres.)
Springfield, MO, USA
(DRBGWIXSON@aol.com)

Treasurer Nord L. Gale (Past-Pres.)
University of MO-Rolla, Rolla,
MO, USA (nlgale@umr.edu)

Councillors Malcolm J. Brown
British Geological Survey,
England (mjbro@bgs.ac.uk)

John Carter
The Doe Run Company,
Viburnum, MO, USA
(jcarter@doerun.com)

Joy Carter
University of Glamorgan
Pontypridd, CF37 1DL
(jcarter@glam.ac.uk)

Xiangdong Li
(Chair, Asia/Pacific)
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
(cexdli@polyu.edu.hk)

Aradhana Mehra
(Chair, Europe)
University of Derby, England
(A.Mehra@derby.ac.uk)

Howard Mielke
Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA, USA (hmielke@xula.edu)

Joyce Tsuji
EXPONENT, Bellevue, WA, USA
(tsujij@exponent.com)

Ron T. Watkins
Curtin University of
Technology, Perth, Australia
(iwatkins@info.curtin.edu.au)

Past Presidents Richard Cothern
Chevy Chase, MD, USA
(rcothern@nova.umuc.edu)

Jim Fricke
Resource Management
Consultants, Midvale, Utah,
USA (jim@rmc-ut.com)

Ron Fuge
University of Wales,
Aberystwyth,
Wales (rrf@aber.ac.uk)

Betsy T. Kagey
Cumberland, MD, USA
(bkagey@mail.frostburg.edu)

Iain Thornton
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, England (i.thornton@ic.ac.uk)

Task Force Willard Chappell
Chair University of Colo-Denver,
Denver, CO, USA
(wchappel@carbon.cudenver.edu)

Journal Editor Brian E. Davies (Past Pres.)
Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA (bdavies@clemson.edu)

Interface Editor Margaret C. Graham
University of Edinburgh,
Scotland (Margaret.Graham@ed.ac.uk)