Field balances of trace elements at the farm scale in Finland and levels of trace elements on the GEMAS geochemical maps

1
Field balances of trace elements at the farm
scale in Finland and levels of trace elements on
the GEMAS geochemical maps

• Timo Tarvainen and Tarja Hatakka
• Geological Survey of Finland GTK
• Merja Eurola
• MTT Agrifood Research Finland

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Trace metals in agricultural soil

• Anthropogenic sources of trace metals to
  agricultural soil-
• Fertiliser products mineral fertilisers, liming
  agents, municipal and industrial sewage sludge,
  composts, ashes, slag
• Feed additives, undesirable substances in animal
  feed
• Pesticides
• Atmospheric deposition (industry, traffic, energy
  production).
• Natural background concentration of trace
  metals-
• Bedrock type, weathering and migration of the
  trace metals in the surface environment
• Development of soil profile.
• Output on farm level-
• Erosion
• Leaching
• Products crops, milk, meat
• Cattle manure (if exported).

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RAKAS project Assessment of heavy metal inputs
into Finnish agro-ecosystems

• Co-operation MTT, GTK, Finnish Food Safety
  Authority, Viljavuuspalvelu Ltd and Suomen Rehu
  Ltd. (2004-2007)
• Inputs, outputs and field mass balances of As,
  Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni, Se, V and Zn on typical
  crop and dairy farms in Finland
• 5 crop farms from South-West Finland
• 5 dairy farms from Ostrobothnia, West Finland.
• Published report Mäkelä-Kurtto, R., Laitonen,
  A., Eurola, M., Vuorinen, A., Pasanen, T.,
  Rankanen, R., Suominen, K., Laakso, P.,
  Tarvainen, T., Hatakka, T. Salopelto, J., 2007.
  Field balances of trace elements at the farm
  level on crop and dairy farms in Finland in 2004.
  MTT Agrifood Research Reports 111, Finland, 132
  pp. http//orgprints.org/14824/1/met111.pdf.

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Dairy farms (2) located mostly on sandy soil
Crop farms (1) located on clay soil
(From Hatakka et al., 2007, Appendix 1, Fig. 1,
p.47)
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Detailed aims at the farm scale

• Collect data on the amount of agricultural
  production resources imported to the test farms
  and products exported from the test farms
• Sample fertiliser products, crop plants, milk and
  meat from the test farms and analyse them for
  their trace element contents
• Analyse topsoil and subsoil of the fields on the
  test farms for trace elements (aqua regia)
• Estimate field balances of trace elements at the
  farm level by using RAKAS and AROMIS models
• GEMAS now the level of trace metals in topsoil
  can be compared to the European level.

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Example Nickel

• Crop farms
• Input Fertiliser products gt atmospheric
  deposition
• Output Erosion gt leaching gt crop plants
• Balance Negative.
• Dairy farms
• Input Fertiliser products gt commercial feeds
  deposition
• Output Erosion gt leaching gt manure gt crop
  plants gt milk and meat
• Balance (Negative).

• Crop farms nickel in topsoil (left) and subsoil
  (right). Micronutrient for plants.

(From Hatakka et al., 2007, Appendix 4, Fig. 13,
p. 57)
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(Based on data from Hatakka et al., 2007)
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(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.39.5, p.327)
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Cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) Positive balance

• Positive balance Accumulation of Cd and Hg into
  the topsoil
• GEMAS Concentration of
• Cd and Hg rather low in
• Finnish agricultural soil
• Elevated Hg content in
• organic rich pasture soil

(From Hatakka et al., 2007, Appendix 4, Fig. 3,
p. 52)
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(From Reimann et al., 2003, p.83)
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Copper (Cu) on crop farms

• Input Atmospheric deposition gt fertiliser
  products
• Output Erosion gt crop plants gt leaching
• Balance Negative
• Mean fertility status Satisfactory
• Plough layer 29 kg Cu/ha
• Subsoil 39 kg Cu/ha
• ? loss 10 kg Cu/ha from topsoil
• Balance model 23 years of cultivation can
  explain the difference (green)

(Based on data from Mäkelä-Kurtto et al., 2007)
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Copper (Cu) in the GEMAS maps

• Cu concentrations are usually lower in NE Europe
  compared to southern and western Europe
• Thus, the Cu concentrations in Finnish topsoil in
  crop farms should be monitored still depleting
  trend?

(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.23.5, p.235)
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Selenium (Se)

• Major input on both crop and dairy farms
  fertiliser products
• Field balance of Se highly positive
• Baltic Soil Survey maps Se enrichment in Finnish
  topsoil
• GEMAS Se level is higher in SE Finland compared
  to arable soil in NE Europe.

(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.50.5, p.391)
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Zinc aqua regia concentrations (near total)
Near-total Zn higher in crop farm area
(From Reimann et al., 2014, Fig. 11.63.5, p.465)
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Zinc (MMI leach)
Dairy farms Field balance positive Fertility
status satisfactory
Crop farms Field balance negative Fertilitity
status rather poor
(From Mann et al., 2014, Fig. 13.17, p.219)
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Field balances for other studied metals
Farm category As Cr Pb V
Crop farms Negative Negative Close to zero Negative
Dairy farms Positive Mostly positive Close to zero Positive
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Conclusions

• Farm level data and field balance models give
  possibility to estimate trends of metal content
  in agricultural topsoil
• Measurements from topsoil and subsoil were useful
  for verifying the balance model results
• Aqua regia available concentrations are not
  always correlated to fertility status of trace
  nutrients such as Zn
• GEMAS maps offer the possibility to estimate the
  current metal content in European level

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Thank you
timo.tarvainen_at_gtk.fi
http//gemas.geolba.ac.at/
References
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References
SLIDES 4, 6, 7, 9Hatakka, T., Mäkelä-Kurtto,
R., Tarvainen, T., Laakso, P., Laitonen, A.
Eurola, M. 2007.  Trace elements in top- and
subsoil on selected crop and dairy farms in
Finland in 2004.  Agrifood Research Reports 108,
Finland, 80 pp. http//orgprints.org/14826/1/met10
8.pdf   Also in Mäkelä-Kurtto, R., Laitonen, A.,
Eurola, M., Vuorinen, A., Pasanen, T., Rankanen,
R., Suominen, K., Laakso, P., Tarvainen, T.,
Hatakka, T. Salopelto, J., 2007. Field
balances of trace elements at the farm level on
crop and dairy farms in Finland in 2004. MTT
Agrifood Research Reports 111, Finland, 132 pp.
http//orgprints.org/14824/1/met111.pdf   SLIDES
8, 12, 13, 14 Reimann, C., Demetriades, A.,
Birke, M., Filzmoser P., OConnor, P., Halamic,
J., Ladenberger, A. the GEMAS Project Team,
2014. Distribution of elements/parameters in
agricultural and grazing land soil of Europe.
Chapter 11 In C. Reimann, M. Birke, A.
Demetriades, P. Filzmoser P. OConnor
(Editors), Chemistry of Europe's agricultural
soils Part A Methodology and interpretation
of the GEMAS data set. Geologisches Jahrbuch
(Reihe B 102), Schweizerbarth, 101-472.   SLIDE
10 Reimann, C., Siewers, U., Tarvainen, T.,
Bityukova, L., Eriksson, J., Gilucis, A.,
Gregorauskiene, V., Lukashev, V.K., Matinian,
N.N. Pasieczna, A., 2003. Agricultural soils
in Northern Europe A Geochemical Atlas. E.
Schweizerbartsche Verlagsbuchhandlung,
Stuttgart, 279 pp.   SLIDE 11 Mäkelä-Kurtto, R.,
Laitonen, A., Eurola, M., Vuorinen, A., Pasanen,
T., Rankanen, R., Suominen, K., Laakso, P.,
Tarvainen, T., Hatakka, T. Salopelto, J., 2007.
Field balances of trace elements at the farm
level on crop and dairy farms in Finland in 2004.
MTT Agrifood Research Reports 111, Finland, 132
pp. http//orgprints.org/14824/1/met111.pdf SLIDE
15 Mann, A., Reimann, C., Caritat, P. de
Turner, N., 2014. Mobile metal ion analysis of
European agricultural soil. Chapter 13 In C.
Reimann, M. Birke, A. Demetriades, P. Filzmoser
P. OConnor (Editors), Chemistry of Europe's
agricultural soils Part B General background
information and further analysis of the GEMAS
data set. Geologisches Jahrbuch (Reihe B 103),
Schweizerbarth, 203-231.