Characterization and validation of a Portuguese natural reference soil to be used as substrate for ecotoxicological purposes.

This study describes the first attempt to validate a Portuguese natural soil (PTRS1) to be used as reference soil for ecotoxicological purposes, aimed to both: (i) obtain ecotoxicological data for the derivation of Soil Screening Values (SSVs) with regional relevance, acting as a substrate to be spiked with ranges of concentrations of the chemicals under evaluation and (ii) act as control and as substrate for the dilution of contaminated soils in ecotoxicological assays performed to evaluate the ecotoxicity of contaminated soils, in tier 2 of risk assessment frameworks, applied to contaminated lands. The PTRS1 is a cambisol from a granitic area integrated in the Central Iberian Zone. After chemical characterization of the soil in terms of pseudo-total metals, PAHs, PCBs and pesticide contents, it was possible to perceive that some metals (Ba, Be, Co, Cr and V) surpass the Dutch Target Values (Dtvs) corrected for the percentage of organic matter and clay of the PTRS1. Nevertheless, these metals displayed total concentrations below the background total concentrations described for Portuguese soils in general. The same was observed for aldrin, endosulfan I, endosulfan II, heptachlor epoxide, and heptachlor; however the Dtvs corrected become negligible. The performance of invertebrate and plant species, commonly used in standard ecotoxicological assays, was not compromised by both soil properties and soil metal contents. The results obtained suggest that the PTRS1 can be used as a natural reference soil in ecotoxicological assays carried out under the scope of ecological risk assessment.