Open Access

ARTICLE

High fluorine and other associated trace elements in waters from the south of the Pampean plain

by Espósito ME, ME Sequeira, JD Paoloni, MC Blanco, N Amiotti

1 Dpto. de Agronomía, Univ. Nac. del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CERZOS, CONICET) San Andrés 800, (8000) Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
2 Dpto. de Ingeniería, Univ. Nac. del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CERZOS), Avda. Alem 1253, (8000) Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
3 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), San Andrés 800, (8000) Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
4 Dpto. de Agronomía, Univ. Nac. del Sur, San Andrés 800, (8000) Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

* Corresponding Author:Address Correspondence to: Ing. Agr. Martín E. Espósito, e-mail:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2013, 82(all), 35-44. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2013.82.035

Abstract

We investigated the levels of F and its relationship with As, B and V in ground and surface waters of the southern Pampas, where cases of dental and skeletal fluorosis, and arsenic in hair and urine samples have been detected in the rural population. Eating vegetables and cereals grown in irrigated areas with excessive fluoride may increase the risk of fluorosis due to the addition of the extra F contributed from other sources such as drinking water. Moreover, if these elements exceed the tolerance of crops produce toxicity and, like salinity, they decrease the potential crop yield. Within an area of 2300 km², 81 samples were taken from surface and groundwaters to determine F, As, B and V. Fluoride was detected in 86% of the sampled groundwaters, and in 65% of the surface waters reaching maximun concentrations of 7.12 mg/L and of 6.5 mg/L, respectively. Risk areas were determined based on the distribution of F in the unconfined aquifer; the highest concentrations were observed towards the S-SW, in the central and SE sectors. On the surface flow, the highest concentrations were found at the west with sampling points remarkably prominent. These waters are classified as sodium-sulfate, C3 and with high concentrations of F, B and V that could produce toxicity and reduce yields on irrigated crops. Fluoride correlated significantly (p<0.01) with As (r=0.75), B (r=0.57) and V (r=0.53) in groundwater; it also associated with As (r = 0.65) in surface waters, and showed higher levels of association with boron (r=0.88) and vanadium (r=0.81), which showed highly significant linear regressions (p<0.01).

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Keywords

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