Reprinted from the Journul c$Environmental Quuliiy
Volume 26, no. 1, January-February 1997, Copyright 8 1997, ASA, CSSA, SSSA
677 South Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 5371 1 USA
Chemical Fractionation of Cadmium, Copper, Nickel, and Zinc in Contaminated Soils
Lena Q. Ma* and Gade N. Rao
ABSTRACT
Heavy metals are potentially toxic to human life and the environ-
ment. Metal toxicity depends on chemical associations in soils. For
this reason, determining the chemical form of a metal in soils is
.
important to evaluate its mobility and hioavailability Sequential ex-
traction was used to fractionate four heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Ni, and
Zn) from nine contaminated soils into six operationally defined groups:
water soluble, exchangeable, carbonate, Fe-Mn oxide, organic, and
residual. The residual fraction was the most abundant pool for all
four metals examined. A significant amount (2.4-44%) of Zn was
present in the potentially available fraction: nonresidual fraction. A
major portion (40-74%)of Cu was associated with the organic, Fe-
Mn oxide, and carbonate fractions in most of the soils. Contamination
of Cd and Ni in these soils was not as severe as Zn and Cu. Assuming
that mobility and bioavailability of these metals are related to their
solubility and geochemical forms, and that they decrease in the order of
extractionsequence, the apparent mobility and potential bioavailability
for these four metals in the soils were: Zn > Cu > Cd > Ni. Metal
distributions in different chemical fractions in these soils depended
on respective total metal concentrations, except for Zn.
C ONTAMINATION of heavy metals in the environment
is of major concern because of their toxicity and
threat to human life and the environment (Purves, 1985).
Much research has been conducted on heavy metal con-
tamination in soils from various anthropogenic sources
such as industrial wastes (Haines and Pocock, 1980;
Parry et al., 1981; Culbard et al., 1983; Gibson and
Farmer, 1983), automobile emissions (Lagerwerff and
Specht, 1970; Fergusson et al., 1980; Garcia-Miragaya,
1984), mining activity (Davies and Ginnever, 1979;
Culbard and Johnson, 1984), and agricultural practice
(Colbourn and Thornton, 1978).
Based on primary accumulation mechanisms in sedi-
ments, heavy metals can be classified into five categories:
(i) adsorptive and exchangeable, (ii) bound to carbonate
phases, (iii) bound to reducible phases (Fe and Mn
oxides), (iv) bound to organic matter and sulfides, and
(v) detrital or lattice metals (Salomons and Forstner,
1980). Heavy metals present in these categories have
different remobilization behaviors under changing envi-
ronmental conditions (Forstner, 1985). Geochemical
forms of heavy metals in soil affect their solubilities,
which directly influence their bioavailability (Xian,
1987). Therefore, determining total content of heavy
metals is insufficient to assess the environmental impact
of contaminated soils and sediments (Salomons and Fors-
tner, 1980), because it is the chemical form that deter-
Soil and Water Science Dep., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 3261 1-
0290. Received 17 Nov. 1995. *Corresponding author (qma@gnv.ifas.
ufl.edu).
Published in J. Environ. Qual. 26:259-264 (1997).
259
mines metal behavior in the environment and its remobili-
zation ability.
Selective sequential extraction procedures have been
commonly used for studying metal mobility and availabil-
ity in soils. Numerous extraction schemes for soils and
sediments have been described in the literature (Gupta
and Chen 1975; Stover et al., 1976; Tessier et al., 1979;
Tessier and Campbell, 1988; Miller and McFee, 1983;
Welte et al., 1983; Shuman, 1985; Rauret at al., 1989).
The extraction scheme used here is based on operationally
defined fractions: water soluble, exchangeable, carbon-
ate, Fe-Mn oxides, organic, and residual fractions. These
procedures are not entirely specific, and there will be
overlap between the fractions. Despite uncertainties as
to the selectivity of the various extractants and to possible
problems due to readsorption, extraction procedures pro-
vide qualitative evidence regarding the forms of associa-
tion of trace metals and, indirectly, of their bioavailability
(Harrison, 1981).
Recently, attempts have been made to assess the bio-
availability of heavy metals in contaminated soils and
sediments using sequential extraction (Xian, 1987,
1989). Such assessments assume that metal bioavailabil-
ity decreases with each successive extraction step in
the procedure. Therefore, metals in water soluble and
exchangeable fractions would be readily bioavailable to
the environment, whereas the metals in the residual
fraction are tightly bound and would not be expected to
be released under natural conditions (Xian 1989; Clev-
enger and Mullins, 1982). The procedure of Tessier et
al. (1979) is one of the most thoroughly researched
and widely used procedures to evaluate the efficacy of
decontamination treatments (Pardo et al., 1990; Rauret
et al., 1988; Spevackova and Kucera, 1989; Calvet et
al., 1990; Vicente-Beckett et al., 1991).
The primary objectives of this study were to investigate
the chemical partitioning of Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn in nine
contaminated soils and to evaluate the effect of total
metal concentrations on metal partition into different
fractions.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Nine contaminated soils collected from various U.S. loca-
tions were used in this study (Table l). These soils reflect
various sources of metal contamination,which can be classified
into two broad categories: agricultural activities, such as the
application of pesticide PbHAs04; and industrial activities,
such as mining and smelting.
The procedure of Tessier et al. (1979), selected for this
study, is designed to separate heavy metals into six operation-
ally defined fractions: water soluble, exchangeable, carbonate
bound, Fe-Mn oxides bound, organic bound, and residual
fractions. A summary of the procedure is as follows:

260 J. ENVIRON. QUAL., VOL. 26, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1997
Table 1. Nine metal-contaminated soils used in the research.
Soil name Abbreviation Location
Burch BU Old apple orchard, WA
Twin Tw Old apple orchard, WA
Burch Loam BL Old apple orchard, WA
East Field 1 EF1 Residential area, MT
East Field 2 EEL Residential area, MT
FTC PT Oklahoma
BPS BP Berks County, PA
RRS RR Berks County, PA
AEC 1-1 DA Bridgeport, CT
t Measured in 1:2 soil/water suspensions after 24 h.
$ Soil organic matter content.
One gram of each soil is weighed into a 40-mL polycarbonate
centrifuge tube and the following fractions obtained.
Water Soluble. Soil sample extracted with 15 mL of deion-
ized water for 2 h.
Exchangeable. The residue from water soluble fraction is
extracted with 8 mL of 1 M MgC12 (pH 7.0) for 1 h.
Carbonate-Bound. The residue from exchangeable fraction
is extracted with 8 mL of 1 M NaOAc (adjusted to pH 5.0
with HOAc) for 5 h.
Fe-Mn Oxides-Bound. The residue from carbonate frac-
tion is extracted with 0.04 M NH20H*HC1in 25% (v/v) HOAc
at 96°C with occasional agitation for 6 h.
Organic-Bound. The residue from Fe-Mn oxide fraction
is extracted with 3 mL of 0.02 M HNO3 and 5 mL of 30%
H202(adjusted to pH 2 with HNO,). The mixture is heated
to 85°C for 2 h, with occasional agitation. A second 3-mL
aliquot of 30% HzOz (pH 2 with HNO,) is added and the
mixture heated again to 85°C for 3 h with intermittent agitation.
After cooling, 5 mL of 3.2 M NH40Ac in 20% (v/v) HN03
is added and the samples diluted to 20 mL and agitated continu-
ously for 30 min.
Residual. The residues from organic fraction are digested
using a HF-HCI/HN03 dissolution procedure in a Parr 4745
acid digestion Bomb (Bernas, 1968). A standard Reference
Material (271 1 Montana Soil; National Inst. of Standards and
Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899) was used to verify the
acid digestion method used in this study. The recovery for all
trace metals in the standard was within 100 f 10%.
After each successive extraction, separation was done by
centrifuging (Beckman Model J2-21) at 14K rpm (15400 x
g) for 30 min. The supernatants were removed with a pipette,
filtered with 0.2-pm Nucleopore polycarbonate membrane fil-
ters, and analyzed for metals. The residue was washed with
8 mL of deionized water followed by vigorous hand shaking,
and then followed by 30 min of centrifugation before the next
extraction.
Analytical Methods
All extractions were conducted in triplicate in acid-washed
(5% HN03) polycarbonate labware. All chemicals used in this
study were of analytical grade or better. Double deionized
water, from a Barnstead NANOpure water system was used.
Total metal concentrations of the supernatants from each
step were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer
(Perkin-Elmer 2380) equipped with a graphite furnace atom-
izer. Flame atomic absorption was used to analyze metal con-
centrations >I mg L-’ and graphite furnace atomizer was
used to measure metal concentrations <1 mg L-’. Multilevel
standards (Fisher Scientific) for all metals were prepared for
each extraction step in the same matrix as the extracting re-
agents to minimize matrix effects. Blanks were used for back-
1
Contamination source PHt SOMS
g 4-’
PbHAs04 5.85 25
PbHAso4 7.28 23
PbHAso4 5.83 25
Smelter site 6.78 21
Smelter site 6.80 22
Smelter site 7.51 61
Battery breaking site 6.14 15
Battery breaking site 7.03 38
Burning ground 7.51 19
ground correction and other sources of error. At least one
duplicate and one spike sample were run for every 10 samples
to verify precision of the method. The spike recovery and
precision were found to be within 100 f 10%.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Soil has long been regarded as a repository for society’s
wastes. Gradually mobilized by biogeochemical pro-
cesses, soil contaminants can pollute water supplies and
impact food chains. Heavy metals, such as Cd, Cu, Ni,
and Zn, are all potential soil pollutants. Soils consist of
heterogeneous mixtures of organic and inorganic solid
components as well as a variety of soluble substances.
Therefore, metal distribution among specific forms varies
widely based on the metal’s chemical properties and
soil characteristics (Soon and Bates, 1982). Thus, it is
important to evaluate the availability and mobility of
heavy metals to establish environmental guidelines for
potential toxic hazards and to understand chemical behav-
ior and fate of heavy metal contaminants in soils (Davies,
1980).
The sequential extraction used in this study is useful
to indirectly assess the potential mobility and bioavail-
ability of heavy metals in the soils. The six chemical
fractions are operationally defined by an extraction se-
quence that follows the order of decreasing solubility
(Xian, 1989; Clevenger and Mullins, 1982; Soon and
Bates, 1982; Lake et al., 1984). Assuming that bioavail-
ability is related to solubility, then metal bioavailability
decreases in the order: water soluble > exchangeable >
carbonate > Fe-Mn oxide > organic > residual. This
order is just a generalization and offers only qualitative
information about metal bioavailability. Based on the
above information, we can further assume that metals
in the nonresidual fractions are more bioavailable than
metals associated with the residual fraction. The nonre-
sidual fraction is the sum of all fractions except the
residual fraction.
Zinc
Zinc was mostly concentrated in the residual fraction,
although it was also present in other fractions (Table 2).
The percentage of total Zn in the residual fraction ranged
from 55.8% (EF1) to 97.6% (PT). The greater percent-
age of Zn in the residual fraction probably reflects the
greater tendency for Zn to become unavailable once it
was in soils. Similar Zn results were reported for a soil
 MA & RAO: CHEMICAL FRACTIONATION OF HEAVY METALS 26 1

Table 2. Zinc concentrations in each fraction of nine contaminated soils.

Total Zn concentrations, mg kg-'
Fractions BU Tw BL EF1 EF2 PT BP RR DA
Water suluble 1.05 f 0.0 0.15 f 0.0 0.90 f 0.0 7.95 f 0.2 1.95 f 0.0 0.15 f 0.0 1.65 f 0.0 0.15 f 0.0 0.60 It 0.0
Exchangeable 20.1 f 2.0 2.80 f 0.2 18.4 f 1.1 133 f 10 46.2 f 2.1 1.60 f 0.0 5.90 f 0.1 12.0 f 0.8 0.8 f 0.0
CarboIUlte 9.84 f 0.3 10.0 f 0.5 12.6 f 0.2 335 f 7.0 116 f 6.8 2.56 f 0.0 5.92 f 0.1 3.36 f 0.1 195 f 13
Fe-Mn oxide 23.2 f 0.5 14.0 f 1.0 15.0 f 1.1 424 f 20 189 f 10.2 8.50 f 0.0 13.6 f 1.0 60 f 3.43 135 f 9.5
Organic 2.40 f 0.0 2.20 f 0.1 2.20 f 0.1 163 f 10 89.4 f 4.8 1.60 f 0.0 6.20 f 0.0 1.40 f 0.0 10.8 f 0.7
Residual 100 f 9.0 90 f 6.2 120 f 7.2 1340 f 30 800f40 560 f 30 55 f 6.0 550 f 42 440f26
Sum of all fractions 157 f 12 119 f 7.9 169 f 9.7 2400 f 77 1240f64 574 f 30 88.3 f 7.2 627 f 46 782 f 48
Nonresidual, % 36.3 24.4 29.0 44.2 35.6 2.40 37.7 12.3 44.1
Residual, % 63.7 75.6 71.0 55.8 64.4 97.6 62.3 87.7 55.9

from tailing dumps (Jordao and Nickless, 1989) and
in near-shore sediments (Gupta and Chen, 1975). The
amount of Zn present in the nonresidual fractions ranged
from 2.4% (PT) to 44.2% (EFl) (Table 2). Among the
nonresidual fractions, the Fe-Mn oxide fraction con-
tained the greatest amount of Zn in all soils except BL and
DA soils, in which the exchangeable and the carbonate
fractions, respectively, had the greatest amount of Zn
(Table 2). This may be partially due to the high stability
constants of Zn oxides. Several other workers have also
found Zn to be associated with Fe-Mn oxides (Kuo et
al., 1983; Ramos et al., 1994). Xian (1989) found that
the sum of the exchangeable and the carbonate-bound
forms were strongly correlated with Zn uptake by cab-
bage plants (Brussicu oleruceu). The sum of Zn in the
exchangeable and carbonate fractions in our study ranged
from 0.73% (PT) to 25% (DA), which indicates that
the Zn in some of these soils may be highly available
for plants. The concentrations of the water soluble and
organic fractions in these soils was relatively low
(Table 2).
Soils used in this study were contaminated from four
different sources (Table 1). The order of Zn association
with various chemical fractions was the same for the
three soils collected from former smelter sites (EF1,
EF2, and PT) (Table 2), whereas the trend varied for
the rest of the soils contaminated from other three sources
(Table 2). In general, the association of Zn in these soils
was in the decreasing order of residual > Fe-Mn oxides
> carbonates > organic > exchangeable > water soluble.
Soils EFl and EF2 were more contaminated than the
other soils. Although a large percentage of the total Zn
was in the residual fraction in these soils, the amount
of Zn present in the nonresidual fractions was also appre-
ciable from the standpoint of potential Zn mobility and
bioavailability. The potential mobility and bioavailability
of Zn in these soils would be in the order: EFl > DA
> BP > BU > EF2 > BL > TW > RR > PT. An attempt
was made to correlate the effect of total Zn content in
soils on the distribution of Zn in the various chemical
fractions and found that the distribution was independent
of the total amount of Zn present in the soils (Fig. la).
Copper
Like Zn, most of the Cu in these soils was present in
the residual fraction (Table 3). In BU, TW, BL, PT,
and RR soils, >97.6% of the Cu was associated with
the residual fraction. A small percentage of Cu (0.13-
1.1%) was associated with the organic, exchangeable,
and water soluble fractions, and no Cu was extracted
from the carbonate and Fe-Mn oxide fractions. Gupta
and Chen (1975) and Hickey and Kittrick (1984) also
found a majority of the Cu in soils and sediments to be
associated with the residual fraction. Although Cu was
found in all fractions in EFl, EF2, BP, and DA soils,
it was mostly concentrated in the last four fractions. In
the case of EF1 and EF2 soils, the greatest percentage
of Cu was associated with the organic fraction (34-
35%) (Table 3). Our results were consistent with that
of Harrison (1981) who found significant amount of Cu
in roadside soils associated with the organic fraction.
The major association of Cu with the organic fraction
in these two soils may be due to high formation constants
of organic-Cu complexes (Stumm and Morgan, 1981).
In BP soil, the greatest percentage of Cu (58%) was
present in the residual fraction. The Fe-Mn oxide fraction
was the next most important fraction for this soil (BP)
(19.2%), followed by the organic (15.6%), carbonate
(12.3%), exchangeable (2.5%), and water soluble frac-
tion (0.15%) (Table 3). Soil DA had the highest percent-
age of Cu associated with the Fe-Mn oxide fraction
(35%). The residual (30%), carbonate (26%), and or-
ganic (10%) fractions also contained a significant portion
of total Cu in DA soil, whereas Cu in the exchangeable
(0.08%) and water soluble (0.07%) fractions was negli-
gible.
Of the nine soils studied, four (BU, TW, BL, and
RR) were not contaminated with Cu, whereas the re-
maining five soils (EFl, EF2, DA, PT, and BP) were
contaminated with Cu (>240 mg kg-'). The normal Cu
concentration in soils is 2 to 100 mg kg-' (Lindsay,
1979). On the average, percent of total Cu associated
with different fractions in the nine soils was in the follow-
ing order: residual > organic > Fe-Mn oxide > carbonate
> exchangeable > water soluble. As far as the mobility
and potential bioavailability of Cu in these soils are
concerned, the order was as follows as: EF1 > DA >
EF2 > BP > RR > TW > BL > BU > PT.
Copper distribution in various chemical fractions de-
pended on the total Cu content of the soils (Fig. lb).
As the total Cu concentration in the soils increased, the
percent of total Cu in the water soluble, carbonate, Fe-
Mn oxide, and organic fractions increased and Cu in
the exchangeable and residual fractions decreased. Our
results suggest that as the extent of Cu contamination
262 J . ENVIRON. QUAL., VOL. 26, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1997

Water Exch. Carb. Fe-Mn Organic Res.

100

El 0
-
c
.-
3
0
0

c
L
v)
b
z1

0.1
Water Exch. Carb. Fe-Mn Organic Res. Water Exch. Carb. Fe-Mn Organic Res.
Fractions Fractions

Fig. 1. Distribution of heavy metals in various chemical fractions as a function of total metal content in soils (a)Zn, (b) Cu, (c) Cd, and ( d )
Ni.

in soils increased, more Cu was associated with the
nonresidual fractions, which increased potential Cu mo-
bility and bioavailability in these soils.
Cadmium
More than 91 % of the total Cd in all soils, excluding
EFl and EF2, was associated with the residual fraction
(Table 4): Cadmium in EF1 and EF2 soils was presented
in all fractions. However, the percentage of Cd in the
nonresidual fractions was much greater than that of the
residual fractions (Table 4). Sixty seven percent of the
Cd in EF1 soil and 57% in EF2 soil was associated with
the exchangeable, carbonate, and Fe-Mn oxide fractions
(Table 4), with the exchangeable fraction being the great-
est. This suggests that Cd in these two soils was poten-
tially bioavailable because the metals present in the ex-
changeable fraction are usually thought to be readily
available for plant uptake (Xian, 1989). These results

Table 3. Copper concentrations in each fraction of nine contaminated soils.

Total Cu concentrations, mg kg-'
Fractions BU Tw BL
~
EFl
~
EFZ
~
FT ~
BP
~ ~
RR
~~~
DA
Water soluble BDLt BDL BDL 1.5 f 0.0 1.05 f 0.0 BDL 0.15 f 0.0 0.15 f 0.0 0.75 f 0.0
Exchangeable 0.5 f 0.0 0.50 f 0.0 0.80 f 0.0 3.10 f 0.2 2.00 f 0.0 0.50 f 0.0 2.50 f 0.0 1.10 f 0.0 0.80 f 0.0
Carbonate BDL BDL BDL 256 f 10 100 f 5.2 BDL 12.3 f 1.0 BDL 261 f 9.2
Fe-Mn oxide BDL BDL BDL 229 f 11 120 f 6.5 BDL 19.2 f 0.5 BDL 352 f 11
ol-pnic BDL BDL BDL 411 f 20 225 f 8.2 0.40 f 0.0 15.6 f 1.1 0.60 f 0.0 99.8 f 6.9
Residual 46.0 f 3.5 20.0 f 1.5 60.0 f 2.4 310 f 12 200 f 7.2 240 f 12 70.0 f 7.3 100 f 7.1 300 f 15
Sum of all fractions 46.5 f 3.5 20.5 f 1.5 60.8 f 2.4 1210 f 52 648 f 27 241 f 12 120 f 6.2 102 f 7.1 1010 f 43
Nonresidual, I 1.10 2.40 1.30 74.4 69.0 0.40 41.7 2.90 70.0
Residual, I 98.9 97.6 98.7 25.6 30.9 99.6 58.3 98.0 30.0
t BDL = below detection limit.
 MA & RAO: CHEMICAL FRACTIONATION OF HEAVY METALS 263

Table 4. Cadmium concentrations in each fraction of nine contaminated soils.

Total Cd concentrations, mg kg-l
Fractions BU Tw BL EF1 EM PT BP RR DA
Water soluble BDLt BDL BDL 1.50 f 0.0 0.45 f 0.0 BDL 0.15 f 0.0 0.15 f 0.0 BDL
Exchangeable 1.10 f 0.0 0.80 f 0.0 0.80 f 0.0 50.7 f 4.0 30.0 f 2.1 0.80 f 0.0 1.10 f 0.0 1.10 f 0.0 0.80 f 0.0
Carbonate BDL BDL BDL 36.9 f 1.0 16.4 f 1.0 BDL 0.32 f 0.0 BDL BDL
Fe-Mn oxide 0.20 f 0.0 BDL BDL 25.2 f 2.0 11.4 f 0.2 BDL 1.00 f 0.0 BDL 0.60 f 0.0

I Organic
Residual
Sum of all fractions
BDL
13.0 f 0.9
14.3 f 1.0
BDL
4.0 f 0.4
4.1 f 0.4
BDL
20.0 f 1.2
20.8 f 1.2
4.40 f 0.0
50.0 f 4.5
169 f 12
1.80 f 0.0
40.0 f 2.4
101 f 5.0
BDL
40.0 f 1.2
41.0 f 1.2
0.20 f 0.0
60.0 f 3.0
62.0 f 3.0
BDL
40.0 f 2.0
41.3 f 2.0
BDL
40.0 f 1.7
41.4 f 1.7

I Nonresidual, W
Residual, W
9.00
91.0
2.00
98.0
4.00
%.O
70.0
30.0
60.0
40.0
2.40
97.6
3.20
%.8
3.00
97.0
3.40
97.0
t BDL = below detection limit.

were in agreement with the observations of Harrison CONCLUSIONS

(1981), Miller and McFee (1983), and Kuo et al. (1983).
Generally, the Cd association with different fractions
followed the order: residual > exchangeable > carbonate
> Fe-Mn oxide > organic > water soluble. It was also
observed that the distribution of Cd in various chemical
fractions depended on the total Cd content (Fig. lc).
Cadmium was present in all fractions when the total Cd
concentration was >50 mg kg-'. It was not present
in the organic and carbonate fractions when the total
concentration was <50 mg kg-'.
Nickel
Like Zn, Cu, and Cd, the residual fraction was by
far the most important fraction for Ni in all the soils,
ranging from 57% (EF1) to 94% (PT) (Table 5). These
results are consistent with the observations of Gupta and
Chen (1975) and Tessier et al. (1980), who suggested
that a majority of the Ni in soils and sediments was
detrital in nature. The exchangeable and Fe-Mn oxide
fractions contained most of the Ni in the nonresidual
fractions (Table 5 ) . Nickel was not detected in the water
soluble fraction in any of the soils. Total Ni concentra-
tions in these soils ranged from 9.0 to 98.7 mg kg-'
(Table 5 ) compared with the normal soil range of 5 to
500 mg kg-' (Lindsay, 1979), which suggests little Ni
contamination in these soils. Nickel was found in all
the fractions, irrespective of the total Ni concentration
(excluding the water soluble fraction) in these soils (Table
5 ) . A decreasing trend in percent of total Ni in the
exchangeable, and an increasing trend in the residual
fractions, was observed with increasing total Ni concen-
tration (Fig. Id). No clear trend was observed in Ni
concentrations present in other chemical fractions as total
Ni concentrations increased.
A sequential extraction procedure was used to fraction-
ate Zn, Cu, Cd, and Ni present in nine contaminated
soils. Different geochemical fractions are operationally
defined by an extraction sequence that generally follows
the order of decreasing solubility. The residual fraction
was the most abundant pool for all the metals in the
soils studied. However, in most of the soils, a significant
percentage of total metals was associated with the nonre-
sidual fractions. Therefore, they should be evaluated
when studying the pollution levels of heavy metals in
soils.
A significant amount of Zn was associated with the
nonresidual fractions in soils studied, indicating that this
metal was potentially more bioavailable than other metals
examined. Copper was found primarily in the residual
or the organic fractions in most of the soils. Little Cd
and Ni were found in these soils. Overall, the order of
contamination was Zn > Cu > Cd > Ni. Among the
nine soils tested, EF1, EF2, and DA soils were the most
contaminated soils with the four heavy metals studied.
The distribution of Zn in various chemical fractions
was independent of the total Zn concentration in soils,
whereas the distribution of Cu, Cd, and Ni in different
fractions depended on respective total metal concentra-
tions in the soils.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Approved for publication as Florida Agricultural Experiment
Station Journal Series No. R-05313.Authors would like to
thank Ms. Angela Choate for partially conducting the experi-
ments.

Table 5. Nickel concentrations in each fractions of nine contaminated soils.

Total Ni concentrations, mg kg-I
Fractions BU Tw BL EFl EF2 PT BP RR DA
Water soluble BDLt BDL BDL BDL BDL BDL BDL BDL BDL
Exchangeable 3.30 f 0.0 2.80 f 0.1 3.30 f 0.1 3.90 f 0.1 3.30 f 0.16 3.90 f 0.2 3.10 f 0.1 3.10 f 0.0 3.10 f 0.1
CarboMk BDL BDL 0.32 f 0.0 0.88 f 0.0 0.56 f 0.0 0.32 f 0.0 BDL 0.32 f 0.0 0.32 f 0.0
Fe-Mn oxide 0.80 f 0.0 0.20 f 0.0 BDL 2.80 f 0.0 1.60 f 0.0 1.50 f 0.0 1.60 f 0.0 BDL 3.60 f 0.1
Organic BDL BDL BDL 0.80 f 0.0 0.40 f 0.0 BDL 0.60 f 0.0 0.80 f 0.0 BDL
Residual 26.0 f 2.5 6.00 f 0.3 17.0 f 1.3 11.0 f 0.1 14.0 f 0.9 93.0 f 2.0 14.0 f 0.9 26.0 f 0.7 21.0 f 1.5
Sum of all fractions 30.1 f 2.5 9.00 f 0.4 20.6 f 1.3 19.4 f 0.2 20.0 f 1.1 98.7 f 2.2 19.3 f 1.0 30.2 f 0.7 28.0 f 1.3
Nonresidual, % 13.6 33.3 17.5 43.3 30.0 5.80 27.5 14.0 25.0
Residual, W 86.4 66.7 82.5 56.7 70.0 94.2 72.5 86.0 75.0
t BDL = below detection limit.
264 J. ENVIRON. QUAL., VOL. 26, JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1997
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