Determination of Major and Trace Elements in Mushroom, Plant and Soil Samples Collected from Japanese Forests

Abstract

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) were used to measure many major and trace elements in plant, mushroom and soil samples collected in Japanese forests. Sample preparation and analytical conditions were investigated to set up a simple routine procedure for measuring a large range of elements. Fifty elements were determined for soil samples. For plant and mushroom samples, 25 elements v ere determined. Concentrations of some trace elements such as Zn, Pb, Cd, Bi, Sn and Sb in forest soils tended to be the highest in the surface soil layer, indicating the importance of atmospheric deposition on the total contents in the soils of these elements. In comparison with the element contents of plants, the mushroom contents could be characterized by low Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba amounts. Transfer factors (TFs) were estimated from the ratio of “concentration in plant or mushroom on dry weight basis” to “concentration in the surface soil on dry weight basis”. The TFs of lanthanide elements, Th and U were very low in all plant and mushroom samples. Mushrooms tended to accumulate Cu, Zn, Rb, Cd and Cs. The TFs of Cs for mushrooms were one or two orders higher than those for other plants growing in the same forest. This result was consistent with the high concentrations of radiocesium in mushrooms reported by researchers in many countries.