Italy, Serravalle Scrivia (Alessandria), Piemonte, Italy
Serravalle Scrivia (land next to the KME works)
Industrial land polluted with copper and zinc next to the KME-Italy metal works, used in 2009–2010 for a large field trial of poplar clones and for tests with mycorrhizal fungi. It is a different site from the Serravalle Scrivia Site of National Interest (the former Ecolibarna).
At a glance
- Status
- Under assessment
- Media
- soil
- Kind of site
- metalworking
Contaminants
Status
Under assessment
The sources consulted are the phytoremediation studies (2009–2010): they document neither any remediation procedure nor the present state of the land. The status shown is provisional.
Story
Next to the KME-Italy works at Serravalle Scrivia there is land with high concentrations of copper and zinc: the soil used in the trials held on average 1,300 mg/kg of copper and 950 mg/kg of zinc.
A group of Italian universities planted 168 clones of white and black poplar there to pick the genotypes best suited to clean-up, and then tested in the greenhouse, on the same soil, the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on the most promising clone.
The land should not be confused with the former Ecolibarna, in the same municipality, which is the Site of National Interest: the sources consulted do not place it inside that perimeter.
Timeline
- 2009The field trial with 168 poplar clones is published.
- 2010The greenhouse trial with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on clone AL35 is published.
Plants and fungi at this site
PhytoremediationField scale
Populus alba, Populus nigra
Castiglione, Lingua, Berta, Biondi and colleagues planted 168 clones of white and black poplar collected from natural populations in northern Italy, scoring survival and growth after one season and Cu and Zn accumulation in the six best clones.
Outcome Clones differed in survival, growth and metal concentration in leaves and stems; clone AL35 of Populus alba concentrated more of both metals in its roots. The result is a selection of genotypes after a single year: no fall in soil metals is reported.
- Castiglione et al., Clonal differences in survival capacity, copper and zinc accumulation, and correlation with leaf polyamine levels in poplar: a large-scale field trial on heavily polluted soil, Environmental Pollution, 2009
- Cicatelli et al., Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi restore normal growth in a white poplar clone grown on heavy metal-contaminated soil, Annals of Botany, 2010
MycoremediationGreenhouse, with soil from the site
Populus alba, Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradices
Greenhouse trial: cuttings of white poplar clone AL35, pre-inoculated or not with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, grown in pots on soil taken from the site (on average 950 mg/kg zinc and 1,300 mg/kg copper) and on unpolluted soil.
Outcome On polluted soil, non-mycorrhizal plants lost about 85% of their biomass; with the fungi biomass was 4 to 6 times greater, despite higher copper and zinc accumulation, mostly in the roots (copper up to 600 mg/kg). The authors speak of a greater capacity to stabilise the metals.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Populus albaWhite poplarEvidence: field
- Agrostis capillarisCommon bentEvidence: field
- Arabidopsis halleriHaller's rockcressEvidence: field
- Festuca rubraRed fescueEvidence: field
- Helianthus annuusSunflowerEvidence: field
- Noccaea caerulescensAlpine pennycressEvidence: field
Fungi
- Rhizophagus irregularisEvidence: greenhouse
- Aspergillus nigerBlack mouldEvidence: laboratory
- Suillus luteusSlippery jackEvidence: laboratory
- Fomitopsis pinicolaRed-belted conkEvidence: laboratory
- Funneliformis mosseaeEvidence: laboratory
- Oidiodendron maiusEvidence: laboratory
The rest are on the contaminant pages.
Nearby
SIN, Serravalle Scrivia (AL), Piemonte
Serravalle Scrivia (former Ecolibarna)
0 km
- Petroleum hydrocarbons
- Mixed waste
Italy, Spinetta Marengo, Alessandria, Piemonte
Spinetta Marengo (Solvay, now Syensqo, chemical plant)
23 km
- Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
- Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)
- Fluoride
SIN, Cogoleto e Arenzano (Genova), Liguria
Cogoleto-Stoppani chromium works
40 km
SIN, Broni (Pavia), Lombardia
Broni (former Fibronit plant)
50 km
- Asbestos
Sources
- Castiglione S. et al. Clonal differences in survival capacity, copper and zinc accumulation, and correlation with leaf polyamine levels in poplar: a large-scale field trial on heavily polluted soil. Environmental Pollution 157, Elsevier, 2009
- Cicatelli A. et al. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi restore normal growth in a white poplar clone grown on heavy metal-contaminated soil. Annals of Botany 106(5), Oxford University Press, 2010
- Serravalle Scrivia (coordinate del comune), Wikipedia
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.