Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12665-014-3111-2 |
| Document | Shareable Link |
| Title (Primary) | Sunflower (Helianthus annuus): phytoextraction capacity for heavy metals on a mining-influenced area in Thuringia, Germany |
| Author | Kötschau, A.; Büchel, G.; Einax, J.W.; von Tümpling, W.
; Merten, D. |
| Source Titel | Environmental Earth Sciences |
| Year | 2014 |
| Department | FLOEK |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Page From | 2023 |
| Page To | 2031 |
| Language | englisch |
| Keywords | Sunflower; Phytoextraction; Bioconcentration factor; Heavy metals |
| UFZ wide themes | RU2; |
| Abstract | On an uranium-mining-influenced area, sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) were grown on a small-scaled plot. Subsamples of sunflowers were harvested 34, 66, 96, 108, 140, and 170 days after sowing. Contents of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Th, U, Zn, and rare earth elements (REEs, La–Lu) were determined in the sunflower shoots, as well as total and bioavailable contents of these 25 elements in the soil taken on the day of sowing and after the last harvest. Shoot contents alone were not sufficient to evaluate the extraction capacity of the sunflowers. Instead total extracted masses (product of biomass and element content) had to be calculated. The total extracted mass increased for most of the elements until 140 days after sowing. Bioconcentration factors (BCFs) as ratio between element content in shoot and soil, were calculated for this time to evaluate the phytoextraction efficiency. BCFs ≥1 (relating total soil contents) and thus a very effective extraction was calculated for Cd. The BCFs, based on mobile soil contents, were ≥1 for all elements, except for U and REEs (La–Lu). Consequently, the sunflower is able to extract many elements effectively from the direct harmful soil fraction. To reduce the contents of Cd and Ni down to levels, where the mining-influenced area could be classified as arable land would require 55 and 207 sunflower growth cycles. Although this is quite a long time, the uranium-mining-influenced area could be successively remediated, while growing biofuel crops, without interfering with food production. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=14732 |
| Kötschau, A., Büchel, G., Einax, J.W., von Tümpling, W., Merten, D. (2014): Sunflower (Helianthus annuus): phytoextraction capacity for heavy metals on a mining-influenced area in Thuringia, Germany Environ. Earth Sci. 72 (6), 2023 - 2031 10.1007/s12665-014-3111-2 |
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