Small Scale Variability of Dinoseb Sorption in Batch Experiment

Herbicide dinoseb (2-sec-butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol) was found in the groundwater of research area. Sorption is one of the major mechanisms that influence the fate of herbicide in soil. One popularly used method to determine the sorption property of chemicals in soils is batch technique. It is highly possible that the sorption parameter values have a spatial variation, for the sorption is affected by some soil properties and most soil properties show spatial variation. However, few studies have investigated the variation of sorption parameters. In this study, several batch experiments have been carried out with dinoseb and with various soil samples. The batch-determined parameters are analyzed statistically, and the relationships between the parameters and some soil properties are investigated. It has been found sorption parameter values of dinoseb show significant spatial variations and they are normally distributed in the research field; the Freundlich sorption coefficients, K_f, of dinoseb have a strong positive correlation with soil organic carbon contents (OC); the relationships between the K_f values and other soil properties are not significant; the heterogeneity of OC content accounts forbout 90% of K_f variability of dinoseb.