Abstract
Near-infrared diffuse reflectance sensing (NIRS) of soils has been the object of considerable interest and research in the last few years. This has been motivated by the prospect that this method seems to provide a cheap, convenient alternative to conventional, time-consuming methods for the measurement of a wide range of soil parameters. In particular, various authors have advocated that NIRS could be used to measure rapidly and non-destructively the concentration of trace metals in surface soils. Correlation analyses between NIRS spectra and trace metal concentration have yielded inconclusive results to date, suggesting that trace metal concentration may belong to a class of “tertiary” soil parameters, linked to NIRS spectra through “surrogate”, or indirect, correlations, involving some other primary or secondary parameter like clay or organic matter content, to which NIRS spectra are very sensitive. To assess the validity of this surrogate correlation hypothesis in the case of trace metals, experiments were carried out with soil samples varying only in the amount of trace metals they contain. Field-aged Hudson and Arkport soil pots spiked with Cu and Zn, freshly spiked samples of the same soils, and samples of a metalliferous peat soil from Western New York naturally rich in Cd and Zn were subjected to NIRS under laboratory conditions. Detailed analysis indicates that the NIR spectrum is sensitive to sample handling, including the orientation of the samples in the NIRS instrument, but that, at the same time, there is no discernable effect of the presence of trace metals on any part of the NIR spectrum. These results provide strong experimental support to the hypothesis of “surrogate” correlation for trace metals, and indicate that trace metals, even in severely contaminated soils, should not interfere with the NIR sensing of primary or secondary parameters, like organic matter content. Further work is needed to determine if this feature of NIR spectra extends to other soil chemical parameters.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baveye, P. (2007). Soils and runaway climate change: terra incognita. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 62(6), 139A–143A.
Font, R., Del Río, M., Simón, M., Aguilar, J., & De Haro, A. (2004). Heavy element analysis of polluted soils by near infrared spectroscopy. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 13(11b), 1309–1314.
Genú, A. M., & Demattê, J. A. M. (2006). Determination of soil attribute contents by means of reflected electromagnetic energy. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 27(21), 4807–4818.
Jacobson, A. R., McBride, M. B., Baveye, P., & Steenhuis, T. S. (2005a). The sorption of thallium and silver at trace levels to soils. Air, Water and Soil Pollution, 160(1–4), 41–54.
Jacobson, A. R., Klitzke, S., McBride, M. B., Baveye, P., & Steenhuis, T. S. (2005b). The desorption of thallium and silver from soil. The Science of the Total Environment, 345(1–3), 191–205.
Jacobson, A. R., Dousset, S., Andreux, F., & Baveye, P. C. (2007). Electron microprobe and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping of the heterogeneous distribution of copper in high-copper vineyard soils. Environmental Science and Technology, 41(18), 6350–6356.
Kemper, T., & Sommer, S. (2002). Estimate of heavy metal contamination in soils after a mining accident using reflectance spectroscopy. Environmental Science and Technology, 36(12), 2742–2747.
Kim, B. (2006). Aging effects on cadmium, copper, and zinc solubility in soils with different characteristics. In B. Kim, The long-term behavior of trace metals applied to soils at toxic levels. Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. pp.1–20
Kruskal, W. H., & Wallis, W. A. (1952). Use of ranks in one-criterion analysis of variance. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 47, 583–621.
Ludwig, B., Schmilewski, G., & Terhoeven-Urselmans, T. (2006). Use of near infrared spectroscopy to predict chemical parameters and phytotoxicity of peats and growing media. Scientia Horticulturae, 109, 86–91.
Maleki, M. R., van Holm, L., Ramon, H., Merckx, R., De Baerdemaeker, J., & Mouazen, A. M. (2006). Phosphorus sensing for fresh soils using visible and near infrared spectroscopy. Biosystems Engineering, 95(3), 425–436.
Malley, D. F., & Williams, P. C. (1997). Use of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy in predictions of heavy metals in freshwater sediment by their association with organic matter. Environmental Science and Technology, 31, 3461–3467.
Martínez, C. E., McBride, M. B., Kandianis, M. T., Duxbury, J. M., Yoon, S. J., & Bleam, W. F. (2002). Zinc–sulfur and cadmium–sulfur association in metalliferous peats evidence from spectroscopy, distribution coefficients, and phytoavailability. Environmental Science and Technology, 36(17), 3683–3689.
Moron, A., & Cozzolino, D. (2003). Exploring the use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to study physical properties and microelements in soils. Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 11, 145–154.
Mouazen, A. M., De Baerdemaeker, J., & Ramon, H. (2006). Effect of wavelength range on the measurement accuracy of some selected soil constituents using visual–near infrared spectroscopy. Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, 14(3), 189–199.
Qureshi, S., Richards, B. K., Hay, A. G., McBride, M. B., Baveye, P., Tsai, C. C., et al. (2003). Effect of microbial activity on trace metals released from sewage sludge. Environmental Science and Technology, 37(15), 3361–3366.
Savitzky, A., & Golay, M. J. E. (1964). Smoothing and differentiation of data by simplified least-squares procedures. Analytical Chemistry, 36(8), 1627–1639.
Shenk, J. S., Workman, J. J., & Westerhaus, M. O. (1992). Applications of NIR spectroscopy to agricultural products. In D. A. Burns & E. W. Ciurzak (Eds.), Handbook of near-infrared analysis (pp. 383–431). New York: Dekker.
Siebielec, G., McCarty, G. W., Stuczynski, T. I., & Reeves, J. B., III. (2004). Near- and mid-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for measuring soil metal content. Journal of Environmental Quality, 33, 2056–2069.
Soil Survey Staff. (2006). Keys to soil taxonomy (10th ed.). Washington, DC: USDA—Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Wu, Y. Z., Chen, J., Wu, X. M., Tian, Q. J., Ji, J. F., & Qin, Z. (2005a). Possibilities of reflectance spectroscopy of contaminant elements in suburban soils. Applied Geochemistry, 20, 1051–1059.
Wu, Y. Z., Chen, J., Ji, J. F., Tian, Q. J., & Wu, X. M. (2005b). Feasibility of reflectance spectroscopy for the assessment of soil mercury contamination. Environmental Science and Technology, 39(3), 873–878.
Wu, C.-Y., Jacobson, A. R., Laba, M., & Baveye, P. C. (2009a). Surface roughness and near-infrared reflectance sensing of soils. Geoderma, 152(1–2), 171–180.
Wu, C.-Y, Jacobson, A.R., Laba, M., & Baveye, P.C. (2009b). Alleviating moisture content effects on the visible near-infrared diffuse-reflectance sensing of soils. Soil Science, 174(8), 456–465.
Zar, J. H. (1999). Biostatistical analysis (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, CY., Jacobson, A.R., Laba, M. et al. Surrogate Correlations and Near-Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Sensing of Trace Metal Content in Soils. Water Air Soil Pollut 209, 377–390 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0206-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0206-6