Geogenic versus anthropogenic behaviour and geochemical footprint of Al, Na, K and P in the Campania region (Southern Italy) soils through compositional data analysis and enrichment factor

Thiombane, M., Di Bonito, M. ORCID: 0000-0001-8590-0267, Albanese, S., Zuzolo, D., Lima, A. and De Vivo, B., 2019. Geogenic versus anthropogenic behaviour and geochemical footprint of Al, Na, K and P in the Campania region (Southern Italy) soils through compositional data analysis and enrichment factor. Geoderma, 335, pp. 12-26. ISSN 0016-7061

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Abstract

Geochemical studies that focus on environmental applications tend to approach the chemical elements as individual entities and may therefore offer only partial and sometimes biased interpretations of their distributions and behaviour. A potential alternative approach is to consider a compositional data analysis, where every element is part of a whole. In this study, an integrated methodology, which included compositional data analysis, multifractal data transformations and interpolation, as well as enrichment factor analysis, was applied to a geochemical dataset for the Campania region, in the south of Italy, focusing in particular on the behaviour, footprints and sources of a smaller pool of elements: Al, Na, K and P. The initial dataset included 3669 topsoil samples, collected at an average sampling density of 1 site per 2.3 km2, and analyzed (after an aqua regia extraction) by a combination of ICP-AES and ICP-MS for 53 elements. Frequency based methods (Clr biplot, Enrichment Factor computation) and frequency spatial-method (fractal and multifractal plots) allowed identifying the relationships between the elements and their possible source patterns in Campania soils in relation to a natural occurring concentrations in geogenic material (rocks, soils and sediments) or human input. Results showed how the interpretation of concentration and behaviour of Al, Na, K and P was enhanced thanks to the application of data log-ratio transformation in univariate and multivariate analysis compared to the use of raw or log-normal data. Multivariate analyses with compositional biplot allowed the identification of four element associations and their potential association with the underling geology and/or human activities. When focusing on the smaller pool of elements (Al, P, K and Na), these relationships with the unique geology of the region, were largely confirmed by multifractal interpolated maps. However, when the local background was used for the calculation of the enrichment factor, the resulting interpolated maps allowed to identify smaller areas where the greater concentrations of P could not be possibly associated to a mineralisation (e.g., ultrapotassic rocks) but were more likely to be associated to anthropogenic input such as agriculture activities with potentially extensive use of phosphate fertilizers. The integrated approach of this study allowed a more robust qualitative and quantitative evaluation of elemental concentration, providing in particular new and vital information on the distribution and patterns of P in soils of the Campania region, but also a viable, more robust, methodological approach to regional environmental geochemistry studies.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Geoderma
Creators: Thiombane, M., Di Bonito, M., Albanese, S., Zuzolo, D., Lima, A. and De Vivo, B.
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 1 February 2019
Volume: 335
ISSN: 0016-7061
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1016/j.geoderma.2018.08.008DOI
S0016706117318451Publisher Item Identifier
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 15 Aug 2018 13:10
Last Modified: 08 Aug 2019 03:00
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/34338

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