Abstract

ADAMS, Randy H; ZAVALA-CRUZ, Joel  and  MORALES-GARCIA, Fernando. RESIDUAL CONCENTRATION OF HYDROCARBONS IN SOIL IN THE TROPICS. II: IMPACTS TO FERTILITY AND RECLAMATION. INCI [online]. 2008, vol.33, n.7, pp.483-489. ISSN 0378-1844.

In this article factors related to fertility are evaluated with respect to clean up criteria for soil in a tropical rural environment. Although toxicity can affect fertility in recent spills, in general this kind of impact is minimal for old spills and in soils that have been remediated and that have <25000mg TPH/kg of soil (dry weight). Nonetheless, even in very low concentrations (~2500mg/kg) vegetation growth is affected and impacts are observed in various physical-chemical fertility parameters, especially field capacity, temperature, cation exchange capacity, water repellency, and porosity. These toxicity impacts, as well as changes in physical-chemical parameters, can be mitigated with the use of organic amendments in concentrations of 1-4%, resulting in the vigorous growth of vegetation in an impacted humid tropical environment. Guidelines for soil parameters as clean up criteria are presented for soils typical of the tropics.

Keywords : Capacidad de Campo ; Hidrocarburos ; Repelencia al Agua ; Salinidad ; Saneamiento ; Suelos ; Toxicidad .