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Biochar Soil Amendment Effects on Arsenic Availability to Mountain Brome ( Bromus marginatus )
Author(s) -
Strawn Daniel G.,
Rigby April C.,
Baker Leslie L.,
Coleman Mark D.,
Koch Iris
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2014.11.0477
Subject(s) - biochar , arsenate , amendment , arsenic , environmental science , soil water , environmental remediation , environmental chemistry , agronomy , chemistry , contamination , soil science , ecology , biology , organic chemistry , pyrolysis , political science , law
Biochar is a renewable energy byproduct that shows promise for remediating contaminated mine sites. A common contaminant at mine sites is arsenic (As). In this study, the effects of biochar amendments to a mine‐contaminated soil on As concentrations in mountain brome ( Bromus marginatus Nees ex Steud.) were investigated. In the biochar‐amended soil, mountain brome had greater root biomass and decreased root and shoot As concentrations. X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure spectroscopy results showed that arsenate [As(V)] is the predominant species in both the nonamended and biochar‐amended soils. Soil extraction tests that measure phosphate and arsenate availability to plants failed to accurately predict plant tissue As concentrations, suggesting the arsenate bioavailability behavior in the soils is distinct from phosphate. Results from this study indicate that biochar will be a beneficial amendment to As‐contaminated mine sites for remediation.