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TECHNICAL REPORTS
Heavy Metals in the Environment

Arsenic Distribution in Florida Urban Soils

Comparison between Gainesville and Miami

^a Soil and Water Science Dep., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
^b Statistics Dep., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
^c Florida Power and Light, 700 Universe Boulevard, Juno Beach, FL 33408

* Corresponding author (Lqma{at}ufl.edu)

Received for publication October 8, 2001. Arsenic contamination is of concern due to its effect as a carcinogen. Understanding the distribution of arsenic in urban soils is important for establishing baseline concentrations from which anthropogenic effects can be measured. The soil cleanup target level (SCTL) for arsenic in Florida (0.8 and 3.7 mg kg^-1 in residential and commercial areas, respectively) is lower than in most states and is near the arsenic background concentrations in Florida soils. The objective of this study was to characterize the distribution of arsenic in the soils of two Florida cities, Gainesville and Miami. More than 200 soil samples were collected from three land-use classes in each city (residential, commercial, and public land), digested with USEPA Method 3051a, and analyzed with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Arsenic concentrations varied greatly in Gainesville, ranging from 0.21 to approximately 660 mg kg^-1 with a geometric mean (GM) of 0.40 mg kg^-1 (after discarding outliers), which was significantly lower than the GM of 2.81 mg kg^-1 in Miami, although Miami samples ranged only from 0.32 to approximately 110 mg kg^-1. Arsenic concentrations in 29 and 4% of the Gainesville soil samples and 95 and 33% of the Miami samples exceeded the Florida residential and commercial SCTL, respectively. This study is the first to provide information on arsenic distribution in urban soils of Florida, and the data are useful for assessing arsenic contamination and determining the need for remediation.

Abbreviations: AM, arithmetic mean • GM, geometric mean • MDL, method detection limit • SCTL, soil cleanup target level