Influence of Pedology and Changes in Soil Moisture Status on Manganese Release from Upland Catchments: Soil Core Laboratory Experiments

Manganese (Mn) contamination of drinking water may cause aesthetic and human health problems when concentrations exceed 50 and 500 μg l-¹, respectively. In the UK, the majority of Mn-related drinking water supply failures originate from unpolluted upland catchments. The source of Mn is therefore soi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water, air, and soil pollution air, and soil pollution, 2007-06, Vol.182 (1-4), p.369-382
Main Authors: Hardie, A. M, Heal, K. V, Lilly, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Catchment area
Catchments
Contamination
Cores
Drinking water
Drinking water and swimming-pool water. Desalination
Drying
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Environmental monitoring
Exact sciences and technology
forest soils
Geochemistry
Health problems
Laboratories
Land use
leaching
Manganese
Mineralogy
Moisture content
Moisture effects
Moorland
Organic matter
Organic soils
polluted soils
Pollution
Silicates
Soil
soil chemical properties
Soil contamination
Soil horizons
Soil mixtures
Soil moisture
Soil organic matter
Soil pollution
Soil types
Soil water
soil water content
soil water regimes
Soils
Statistical analysis
Surface water
upland soils
Water geochemistry
water pollution
Water shortages
Water supply
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary:Manganese (Mn) contamination of drinking water may cause aesthetic and human health problems when concentrations exceed 50 and 500 μg l-¹, respectively. In the UK, the majority of Mn-related drinking water supply failures originate from unpolluted upland catchments. The source of Mn is therefore soil, but the exact mechanisms by which it is mobilised into surface waters remain unknown. Elevated Mn concentrations in surface waters have been associated with the rewetting of dried upland soils and with conifer afforestation. We investigated these hypotheses in a laboratory experiment involving the drying and rewetting of intact soil cores (1,900 cm³ volume) of horizons of four representative soil type-land use combinations from an upland water supply catchment in southwest Scotland. Although no statistically significant effect of land use or soil type was detected on Mn concentrations in soil water, Mn release occurred from three soil horizons upon rewetting. Soil water Mn concentrations in the moorland histosol H2 (10-30 cm), the histic podzol H and Eh horizons increased from means of 5.8, 6.2 and 0.6 μg l-¹ prior to rewetting to maxima of 90, 76 and 174 μg l-¹ after rewetting, respectively. The properties of these three horizons indicate that Mn release is favoured from soil horizons containing a mixture of organic and mineral material. Mineral material provides a source of Mn, but relatively high soil organic matter content is required to facilitate mobilisation. The results can be used alongside soil information to identify catchments at risk of elevated Mn concentrations in water supplies.
ISSN:0049-6979
1573-2932
DOI:10.1007/s11270-007-9348-6