Study of soil leachates in doline above the Béke Cave, Hungary

Abstract

Fulvic acid, Ca and Mg concentrations as well as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), pH and electric conductivity values of soil solutions, which resulted from injecting bidistilled water onto glass columns filled with different soils (black rendzina, brown rendzina, red clayey rendzina, red clay) characteristic of the Aggtelek karst system (NE Hungary), were determined. Identification and determination of fulvic acid were achieved by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and adsorption chromatography, respectively, with fluorescent spectrometric detection. The Ca and Mg concentration of the samples was determined by applying an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometric (ICP-AES) method. DIC—expressed in CO 2 concentration values—was determined by using a CO 2 selective electrode. According to the SEC analysis, the apparent molecular weight of the fulvic acids of the samples were between 500 and 1600 Da. The fulvic acid concentration values of the percolated water samples decreased in function of the soils investigated as follows: black rendzina>brown rendzina>red clayey rendzina>red clay, which is in concordance with the organic matter content of these types of soils. The results obtained for fulvic acid, Ca and Mg concentrations as well as for DIC, pH and electric conductivity of the water samples collected from the column filled with red clay were in good agreement with those of a seepage water sample collected from an observation station built in red clay above the Béke Cave (Aggtelek). Since the artificially prepared red clay column was exposed to the same temperature and humidity conditions like red clay of the sampling site, this method seems to be suitable for modelling infiltration of fulvic acid and metals from red clay into seepage water under laboratory conditions.