EDAFOLOGÍA, Vol 12. (3), pp 185-197 2005


EVALUACIÓN DE LA CONTAMINACIÓN POR METALES PESADOS EN SUELOS CON CULTIVOS VEGETALES DE LA COMARCA DEL BAJO VINALOPÓ (ALICANTE)


C. MICÓ, L. RECATALÁ, M. PERIS, J. SÁNCHEZ


CIDE-Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CSIC, Universitat de València, Generalitat Valenciana), Camí de la Marjal s/n, Apartado Oficial, 46470 Albal, Valencia (España), Tel. 961220540, Fax 961270967, E-mail: carolina.mico@uv.es


 

Abstract

Soil pollution can reduce productivity affecting negatively the soil quality. The atmosphe- ric deposition, agricultural practices and the use of wastewater can increase the contents of some contami- nants (e.g., heavy metal) in soils. Furthermore, these elements can be transferred from soils to other environmental components such as crops or underground waters. The main objective of this work is to as- sess soil pollution by Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in agricultural soils devoted to vegetable crops in the area of the Lower Vinalopó (Alicante) and to assess the bioavailability of these elements and, there- fore, their potentiality to be transferred from soils to vegetable crops.


Key words: Agricultural soils, heavy metals, vegetable crops, Bajo Vinalopó.