DGT use in contaminated site characterization. The importance of heavy metal site specific behaviour.

The objective of this study is to provide an insight into the techniques for measuring the lability of heavy metals in solid-phase pool of soils in order to assess the environmental risk arising from pollution. The technique of diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) and a sequential extraction procedure were used to quantify the labile pools of Cu, Fe, Mn and Ni. These results were compared to metal concentrations in groundwater, measured directly using the in situ piezometers, and to the total concentration of metal in the soils.