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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #106625
Title: PREDICTING THE METAL CONTENTS OF DIVERSE SOILS USING NIRS ANALYSIS

Author
item SIEBIELEC, GRZEGORZ - INST/SOIL SCI/PLANT CULT
item McCarty, Gregory
item STUCZYNSKI, T - POLISH GOVERNMENT
item Reeves Iii, James

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Meetings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/30/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) is commonly used as a routine technique for analysis of quality and quantity of organic compounds. We investigated the ability of this rapid and cost-effective method to detect level of metals in soil. A set of diverse soils was collected in Silesian industrial region in southern Poland and represented wide range of heavy metals contamination severity as well as wide range of soil properties (clay, organic matter, pH, iron oxides). Contamination was both a result of long term exposure to zinc and lead smelter emissions and character of parent rock material naturally containing elevated level of metals. Samples were scanned (64 co-added scans) on a NIRSystems Model 6500 scanning monochromator equipped with a rotating sample cup from 400 to 2498 nm. Calibrations were developed using the one-out cross validation procedure under PLS. Calibrations for Fe, Cd, Ni, Zn, Pb produced R2 of 0.93, 0.77, 0.76, 0.71, 0.72, respectively using log of total concentration. Results were better using spectra from 1100-2498 as opposed to 400 to 2498 nm. The preliminary investigation using samples of diverse soils has shown that NIRS has promise as a mean to determine total content of soil metal contaminants and iron. It may become a valuable substitute of time-consuming traditional methods for quick assessment of contaminated soils.