Determination of Indicator Plants for Boron in the Kirka (Eskisehir/Turkey) Boron Deposit Area ()
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Received February 22, 2013; revised March 25, 2013; accepted April 21, 2013
Figure 2.Geological map of the Kırka (Eskişehir) area (simplified from Gök et al., 1979).
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Table 1. Boron concentrations in various plants and their organs and in soils from Kırka (Eskişehir) boron deposits.
ppm [5,21,32,33]. The B values of the three borate deposits are higher than the values of the natural soil samples. Thus, these values can be accepted as anomaly values.
On the other hand, the boron in the water samples of Kırka borate deposits area at 1, 2, 4, 14 and 50 stations are 272 ppm, 326 ppm, 510 ppm, 295 ppm, 195 ppm, re- spectively (Figures 1 and 2). The boron value of the water samples of Emet borate deposit at one station is 590 ppm. The value of B is 10 ppb in the natural water [5]. The B values of the water samples taken from borate deposit areas are higher than the values of the natural water samples, and these values can be accepted anomaly values.
Predominantly, the high B content of the soils is reflected in the parts of the plant species. The B values of the plant species are ranged from 31 ppm to 1197 ppm and the B values of the natural plant samples are ranged from 0.1 ppm to 1 ppm. However, these values are up to 230 ppm in the contaminated area [5,21,32,33]. The B values of the plant species of the borate deposits region are higher than the natural plant samples. Therefore, these values can be accepted anomaly values.
The B content of the soil and the plant samples given in Table 1 was plotted. It was observed that the correlation between B in the part of the plants (G. perfoliata ( r < 0.413 for twigs, r < 0.423 for leaves), C. gryllus (r < 0.707 for twigs, r < 0.666 for leaves and r < 0.878 for barks), J. oxicedrus (r < 0.380 for twigs, r < 0.468 for leaves), J. foetidissima (r < 0.997 for twigs), Q. trojana (r < 0.372 for twigs, r < 0.372 for leaves), A. sibiricum (r < 0.666 for twigs, r < 0.666 for leaves) and E. hirsute (r < 0.413 for twigs, r < 0.433 for leaves, for n > 3) and soil were not significant at 95% (P > 0.05) confidence level. Because the slope of the regression (r) line of the experimental is lowest than theoretical regression (r) line. Furtermore, J. foetidissima (for leaves), and A. intermedia (for twigs and leaves) are insufficient samples, for n < 3.
In contrast to that a statistically significant plant/soil relationship was observed for the B in the twigs of G. aucheri, in the twigs of P. intermedia, and in the leaves of P. nigra and presented in Figures 3-5, respectively. The slope of the regression (r) lines was 0.8581 (for 26 samples), 0.7274 (for 17 samples) and 0.6805 (for 16 samples), respectively. All of the relationships are highly significant (99% confidence level, P < 0.01).
The sensitivity of the P. nigra, G. aucheri and P. intermedia plant species is shown in Figure 6. It is clear in Figure 6 that P. nigra is the most sensitive and G. aucheri is more sensitive than P. intermedia. Therefore, it is better to prefer to start with the most sensitive one for biogeochemical prospecting in the future. Morever, bioconcentration factor (BF, B plant/Bsoil); P. nigra 16.0 > G. aucheri 6.3 > P. intermedia 0.9.
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Figure 3.The relationship between the concentration of B in the soil and B in the Genista aucheri twigs.
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Figure 4.The relationship between the concentration of B in the soil and B in the Puccinellia intermedia twigs.
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Figure 5. The relationship between the concentration of B in the soil and B in the Pinus nigra leaves.
The inter-elemental relationship between the B concentration of the indicator plants and some other elements (B, Sr, Li, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co and Ni) of the soil was
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Figure 6. The correlation between the B contents of the Puccinellia intermedia (twigs), Genista aucheri (twigs), Pinus nigra (leaves) and the soil.
shown in Table 2.
As it was seen in Table 2, there was relationships of B concentration in the twigs of G. aucheri, in the twigs of P. intermedia, in the leaves of P. nigra and the Sr, Li, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co and Ni elements in the soil are not significant (95% confidence level, P > 0.05). Therefore, B in the plants has been independent to Sr, Li, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co and Ni in the soil. In addition, it is obvious that the B concentration in the indicator plants depends on the B concentration in the soil.
5. Conclusions
In the present study, the elemental contents of the plants (G. perfoliata, P. nigra, C. gryllus, J. oxicedrus, J. foetidissima, A. intermedia, Q. trojana, P. intermedia, A. sibiricum, G. aucheri, E. hirsuta), soil, and water taken mainly from Kırka and also from Emet and Bigadiç borate deposit areas are chemically analyzed. The B concentrations in the samples were compared with the B concentrations of the natural plant, soil and water. It was investigated that the B concentrations of all the samples regardless whether it is plant or soil or water are anomaly. However, it was observed that there was a relation between the B concentration of only the twigs of G. aucheri, the twigs of P. intermedia and the leaves of P. nigra plants and the B concentration of the soil (Figures 7(a)-(c), respectively). Therefore, these plant species are determined as indicator plants. Besides, the B concentration of these indicator plants is independent to the concentration of the Sr, Li, Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, and Ni elements in the soil. This means that the indicator plant can take B from the soil regardless it has these elements or not.
It is concluded that the B content in the twigs of G. aucheri, in the twigs of P. intermedia and in the leaves of P. nigra yielded good indications for biogeochemical prospecting and could be successfully used as environ-
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Table 2. Results of correlation analysis for inter-elemental relationships between soil and plants.
S: highly significant (p < 0.01). NS: not significant (P > 0.05).
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(b)![]()
(c)
Figure 7. The photographs of the plant species; (a) Genista aucheri, (b) Puccinellia intermedia, and (c) Pinus nigra.
mental monitor for environmental pollution studies.
Acknowledgements
The TÜBİTAK is acknowledged for financial support (project number is 104Y009). The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. B. Yıldız (Balıkesir University, Turkey) and Assist. Prof. Dr. R. Binzet (Adıyaman University, Turkey) for determination of the plant sample names and Dr. S. Erat (ETH-Zurich, Switzerland) for helpful technical discussions.
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