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(38-47) Experimental field procedure to monitor the behaviour of mercury in soils from Almaden, Spain. Schmid, Thomas*,1, Millan, Rocio1, Vera, Ricardo1, Tallos, Alberto1, Recreo, Fernando1, 1 CIEMAT (Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology), Av. Complutense 22, Madrid, Spain ABSTRACT- A principal aim of this work is to determine and monitor environmental parameters that influence the behaviour of mercury in the soil-plant system. This task has led to experimental work carried out in field plots and lysimeters, designed for a project performed in CIEMAT (Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology). The field plots are located in traditional agricultural and sparsely forested pasture land near Almaden, regarded as the oldest mining area for mercury in the world. The lysimeters proceed from the same area and consist of a cubic meter of an unalterable soil monolith contained in a metallic structure. Therefore, the research is realised under real and close to real conditions, respectively. Instrumentation of the field plots and the lysimeters has been performed to study the influence and fluctuations of the hydrogeochemical properties that control the mercury behaviour in the soil and its availability to be transferred to plants. Moisture probes, electronic vacuum meters, pH and Eh electrodes, and soil solution sampling systems have been implemented. These sensors are placed at different soil depths and are controlled by an electronic data collector continuously registering the measurements. Monitoring the conditions in the field serves to assure that the same conditions are found in the lysimeters. Preliminary results show a good correlation obtained from the field and the lysimeters, where changing soil conditions during the vegetative growth stages and differences between the various plant species are observed. Finally, all these data are implemented to study the feasibility of applying a phytoremediation technique to recover an area affected by a mercury contamination. Key words: Mercury contamination, Lysimeters, Field plots, Soil monitoring |
