Measures to remediate contaminated soils: the Guadiamar case study

Soil pollution is one of the main environmental problems at a global scale. Within the European RECARE project, several threats of soil degradation are investigated, and measures and solutions to remediate degraded soils are proposed.

A research team from the IRNAS, CSIC participating in the RECARE project has contributed with the evaluation of remediation measures for contaminated soils in the case study of the Guadiamar Green Corridor (Seville, Spain). The implementation of a phytoremediation process in three stages was proposed: amendments addition, planting of trees and monitoring of the system.

1) Firstly, results were presented showing a long-term study (from 2002 to 2016) where two types of amendments (sugarbeet lime and biosolid compost) were applied to a contaminated soil. The treatment effectiveness was evaluated by measuring the produced plant biomass and the trace element (TE) concentration in plants, as well as the transfer of TE from soil to plants. The lime-rich inorganic amendments were very effective increasing soil pH and therefore reducing TE availability (mobility); while the organic amendments were effective compensating the organic matter loss in the soil.

2) Secondly, the soil remediation effects of seven tree species (Populus alba, Celtis australis, Fraxinus angustifolia, Quercus ilex, Olea europaea, Ceratonia siliqua and Pinus pinea) planted in the contaminated area were investigated. Concentration of TE in leaves and roots of trees, and in the soil underneath was measured in 2014 (about 15-year-old trees). The capacity to phytostabilize soil TE by different tree species was evaluated based on the retention of TE in roots and the low translocation of TE from roots to leaves.

3) Thirdly, in this phytoremediation process of contaminated soils is crucial the long-term monitoring of soil availability of TE and their concentration in the living organisms (plants and animals) composing the trophic network. The continuous evaluation of those results will modify the following remediation measures within an adaptive management cycle.

This work has been published in the special issue of the journal CATENA, entitled “Testing Soil Conservation”, compiling the results of the different case studies within the European RECARE project.

Madejón P., Domínguez M.T., Gil-Martínez M., Navarro-Fernández C.M., Montiel-Rozas M.M., Madejón E., Murillo J.M., Cabrera F., Marañón T. (2018) Evaluation of amendment addition and tree planting as measures to remediate contaminated soils: The Guadiamar case study (SW Spain). Catena 166: 34-43.

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