Soils from abandoned shooting range facilities as contamination source of potentially toxic elements: distribution among soil geochemical fractions

Civilian and military shooting range facilities cause environmental issues in several countries due to the accumulation of Potentially Toxic Elements; as a result of weathering of ammunitions accumulated into the soils. The contents and distribution of Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were analyzed in 12 soils in an abandoned clay target shooting range at two different depths (0–15 and 15–30 cm). Single extractions (CaCl2 and DTPA) and Tessier sequential extraction were conducted to assess the PTE mobility and the PTE distribution in the different soil geochemical fractions at both depths. High total contents of Pb were found at both soil depths, while Cu, Ni and Zn showed lower significance levels. Copper, Ni and Zn are mainly associated with the residual fraction (> 95% of total content in all cases). However, Pb was highly associated with exchangeable fractions (21–52%), showing a high mobility at both depths. With moderate-high contents of organic matter (6–12%), the studied soils have acidic values and low levels of Al, Fe and Mn oxides that favors the migration of Pb through the soil profile and potential transformation to more mobile forms (Pb0 to Pb2+ and Pb4+). Although Pb reduced downward mobility in soils, due to the specific conditions of these facilities and the lead source (weathering of ammunition), risk assessment studies on clay-target shooting and firing range facilities should study the potential migration of Pb through the soil profile.