COPPER SOLUBILITY AND SPECIATION OF IN-SITU CONTAMINATED SOILS - EFFECTS OF COPPER LEVEL, PH AND ORGANIC-MATTER

This study attempts to identify the soil properties controlling the fr actionation of copper into various soil pools and determine the influe nce of pH and metal loading on soil-solution free copper activity (pCu (2+)). The pCu(2+) was determined in 0.01 M CaCl2 soil extracts using a copper ion selective electrode. We analyzed a wide variety of soils: urban, agricultural and forest soils from the Province of Quebec, New York State and Denmark. The pCu(2+) ranged from 12.21 to 6.18. The re lationships among pCu(2+), total soil copper, total dissolved copper a nd soil pH are studied for their variability within and between sites as well as for the whole data set. Regression equations are presented for predicting soluble copper as a function of total soil copper and a lso for predicting pCu(2+) as a function of total soil copper and soil pH.