Scientists from CZU Found New Tracer of Pollution Sources

New York, NY, July 29, 2021 --(PR.com)-- Researchers from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), Faculty of Environmental Sciences, points to new environmental implications of cadmium isotope analyses.

For two decades, knowledge about cadmium isotope geochemistry has drawn much interest and understanding of its geochemical cycling is crucial for many environmental studies. Cadmium isotopes can be used in marine biogeochemistry and oceanography, given its behavior and close correlation with algal nutrients, and as a tracer of pollution sources. “Despite these numerous environmental studies, there is a surprising lack of a fundamental understanding of cadmium isotope fractionation at specific conditions. The bioavailability, mobility, and toxicity of cadmium depend on its speciation in the natural system and these processes can be somehow identified using cadmium isotope systematics,” says Professor Michael Komárek from CZU.

In this study, cadmium complexation and subsequent isotope fractionation with natural organic matter represented by leonardite was investigated. “Our study is an important contribution to cadmium isotope systematics focusing on its complexation with humic acids, an important constituent in soils, sediments, and water,” says Komárek. The obtained results are crucial to fully understand the biogeochemical processes in the cadmium−soil−aqueous solution−plant continuum and for contamination tracing.

According to the scientists from CZU, the introduction of cadmium to the soil environment and its initial solubilization is followed by numerous biogeochemical reactions with soil components. Modeling cadmium speciation in soil solution revealed that dissolved cadmium is present either bound to dissolved organic matter or as free Cd2+. The high precision and accuracy of the measurements using Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS), which was developed by the researchers at CZU, the number of samples, and the isotopic balance support the accuracy of the obtained results.

See more in an original research article Cadmium Isotope Fractionation during Complexation with Humic Acid published in Environmental Science and Technology (ACS). The text is based on the published article.

The Faculty of Environmental Sciences in Prague is divided into six departments that cover the whole field of education and science. According to the Bologna Declaration, the Faculty fully implements a three-tier system of studies and combines an ecological and landscape section within itself.