Assessment of form of Cd, Zn and Pb in contaminated calcareous and gleyed soils in Southwest Poland

A knowledge of the total amount of trace metals in soils is generally not sufficient to assess environmental impacts of metal contamination. Quantification of different metal forms enables evaluation of their behavior and of their eventual bioavailability in the soil environment. Calcareous and gleyed soils contaminated by Cd, Pb and Zn found in the heavily industrialized area of Tarnowskie Gory (Upper Silesia, Poland) were examined by sequential extraction analysis to assess the forms of these metals in a range extending from background levels to concentrations well in excess of those prescribed as the maximum tolerable limits for Polish soils. Cadmium ranged from 0.41 to 25.5, Pb from 12.7 to 1730 and Zn from 13.9 to 2800 μg g−1 soil, respectively. In general, the metals were associated with more mobile forms in the contaminated soils and particularly in the gleyed soils which tended to be acidic in nature.