Fractionation and Characterization of Metallic Elements in Soils in Land Use Systems
Farid Ul Haq,
Faridullah Faridullah,
Muhammad Irshad,
Aziz Ur Rahim Bacha,
Farhan Hafeez,
Zahid Ullah,
Akhtar Iqbal,
Awais Arifeen,
Iqra Nabi,
Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei,
Mikhlid H. Almutairi
Affiliations
Farid Ul Haq
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Faridullah Faridullah
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Muhammad Irshad
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Aziz Ur Rahim Bacha
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
Farhan Hafeez
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Zahid Ullah
State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Akhtar Iqbal
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Awais Arifeen
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Iqra Nabi
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Prevention and Control, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518055, China
Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mikhlid H. Almutairi
Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Land use has a great impact on soil dynamics. The soils of various land use systems in Central Karakoram have been under immense pressure in the recent past due to certain anthropogenic activities such as land use practices and land use cover changes. These influences have an impact on the spatial distribution of metallic elements (MEs) in the soils of various land uses. Herein, we investigated the occurrence of the MEs, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni), in soils of various land uses such as the permafrost, pasture, forest, and agricultural lands of the Central Karakorum region. The MEs were extracted in exchangeable, adsorbed, organically bound, carbonated, precipitated, and residual forms. The concentrations of MEs showed a significant dependence on the extraction method used, and the extraction trend followed the order of EDTA > HNO3 > KNO3 > NaOH > H2O. Zn showed the highest concentration compared to Ni and Cu in all extractions, whereas the land uses’ ME concentration followed the order of agricultural land > permafrost > forest > pasturelands. The highest values of total Zn, Ni, and Cu were 712 ± 01 mg/kg, 656 ± 02 mg/kg, and 163 ± 02 mg/kg, respectively, in agricultural soil. The ME concentration showed significant variations between different land uses, and the highest concentration was noted in agricultural soil. Zn was found to be a dominant ME compared to Ni and Cu. We believe this effort will provide opportunities for scholars to investigate MEs around the globe.
