% IMPORTANT: The following is UTF-8 encoded. This means that in the presence
% of non-ASCII characters, it will not work with BibTeX 0.99 or older.
% Instead, you should use an up-to-date BibTeX implementation like “bibtex8” or
% “biber”.
@ARTICLE{Sun:877712,
author = {Sun, Yajie and Amelung, Wulf and Gudmundsson, Thorstein and
Wu, Bei and Bol, Roland},
title = {{C}ritical accumulation of fertilizer-derived uranium in
{I}celandic grassland {A}ndosol},
journal = {Environmental sciences Europe},
volume = {32},
number = {1},
issn = {0934-3504},
address = {Heidelberg},
publisher = {Springer},
reportid = {FZJ-2020-02415},
pages = {92},
year = {2020},
abstract = {Long-term phosphorus (P) fertilizer application can lead to
an accumulation of uranium (U) in agricultural soil,
potentially posing risks on the environment and human
health. In this study, we found that such risks could be
severe in two long-term grasslands (Andosol) in Iceland
(Sámstaðir and Geitasandur) after about 50 years of P
fertilization. At Sámstaðir, where P fertilizers were
applied at an annual rate of 39.3 kg ha−1 year−1, the
soil U concentration increased from 0.65 mg kg−1 in the
unfertilized soil to 6.9 mg kg−1 in the fertilized surface
soil (0–5 cm). At Geitasandur with P fertilization rate at
78.6 kg ha−1 year−1, the soil U concentration reached 15
mg kg−1. The average annual U accumulation rates were 130
and 310 µg kg−1 year−1, respectively. These values were
larger, by up to a factor of ten, than any previously
reported rates of fertilizer-derived U accumulation.
However, the U concentration in one of the applied P
fertilizers was 95 mg U kg−1 fertilizer, similar to the
median value of those reported in previous studies, and thus
unlikely to be the only factor leading to the high U
accumulation rates. By contrast, as our Andosols had low
bulk density within a range of 0.2 to 0.5 g cm−3, the
annual U inputs to the 0–5 cm soil were 19 g ha−1
year−1 and 32 g ha−1 year−1 at the two sites,
respectively, within the range of to-date reported values in
agricultural systems. In addition, we found that U was
mostly retained in the surface soil rather than mobilizing
to deeper soil. This was likely due to the fact that the
Andosols were rich in organic matter which promoted U
retention. Therefore, the observed high U accumulation rates
were a result of the combination of (i) the large amounts of
the applied P fertilizers and (ii) the soil properties of
the Andosols with low bulk density and elevated organic
matter content concentrating U in the upper surface soil.
Our study shows that agricultural production systems on
Andosols may have already suffered from severe U
contamination due to P fertilization. We are therefore
calling for future checks and regulations on P
fertilizer-related soil U accumulation in these and certain
comparable agroecosystems.},
cin = {IBG-3},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)IBG-3-20101118},
pnm = {255 - Terrestrial Systems: From Observation to Prediction
(POF3-255)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF3-255},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
UT = {WOS:000546773500001},
doi = {10.1186/s12302-020-00367-w},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/877712},
}