Heavy metals deposited from the atmosphere on upland Scottish soils: Chemical and lead isotope studies of the association of metals with soil components

Three soil profiles taken from the Hartwood Research Station in Central Scotland have been analyzed using chemical digestion and extraction techniques to investigate the chemical association of heavy metals deposited from the atmosphere. Total digestion, EDTA extraction and the BCR (Bureau Communitaire de Reference) sequential extraction procedure were used. In addition, lead isotope ratios in the whole soils and in the fractions from the sequential extraction procedure were measured using thermal ionisation mass spectrometry. All the digestion and extraction procedures gave clear indication of enhanced concentrations of heavy metals in surface soils, in particular for lead and zinc. Whereas total digestion gave a good indication of the heavy metal status of the soils, the extraction procedures were necessary to provide information on chemical association of the metals with soil components, information needed to understand the soil processes involved in mobilization of metals. Lead isotope analysis of the whole soils revealed a consistent picture of lower ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios in surface soils (1.140-1.147) than in soils at 20-30 cm depth (1.182-1.190). The steady progression from the lower to higher ratios down the profile was clear indication that anthropogenic lead had penetrated to some degree into the deeper soils. The combination of sequential extraction and lead isotope analysis proved to be a powerful approach to studying this effect in more detail and showed that the fractions extractable from 20 to 30 cm soils contained lead with much lower ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios (1.174-1.178) than the residual fraction (1.196-1.200). As the extractable fractions contained ≥85% of the lead in the soil, a substantial portion of lead at 20-30 cm depth was of anthropogenic origin. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios of 1.174-1.178 found in the extractable fractions suggested that the mobile component of the anthropogenic lead was that deposited before the introduction of leaded petrol.