Agrostis capillaris · Atlas of Contaminated Sites

How it works

Mechanisms: phytostabilisation

Contaminants

Contaminant	Evidence	What was shown
Lead	field	Field experiments on many mine wastes in the UK: tolerant populations grow faster and persist longer than normal commercial varieties and, with adequate fertiliser, form a stabilising cover that lasted nine years. The cultivars 'Goginan' (acid lead-zinc wastes) and 'Parys' (copper wastes) came from this work (Smith and Bradshaw 1979). Smith and Bradshaw, The use of metal tolerant plant populations for the reclamation of metalliferous wastes, J. Appl. Ecol. 16:595, 1979
Zinc	field	A 135-hectare bare industrial area in Belgium with soil highly phytotoxic from non-ferrous metals: on 3 hectares, after treatment with beringite (an immobilising agent) and sowing of tolerant A. capillaris and Festuca rubra, a complete cover formed quickly and was still healthy and spreading 30 months later (Vangronsveld et al. 1995). Vangronsveld et al., Reclamation of a bare industrial area contaminated by non-ferrous metals: in situ metal immobilization and revegetation, Environ. Pollut. 87:51, 1995

Contaminant

Evidence

What was shown

field

Field experiments on many mine wastes in the UK: tolerant populations grow faster and persist longer than normal commercial varieties and, with adequate fertiliser, form a stabilising cover that lasted nine years. The cultivars 'Goginan' (acid lead-zinc wastes) and 'Parys' (copper wastes) came from this work (Smith and Bradshaw 1979).

Smith and Bradshaw, The use of metal tolerant plant populations for the reclamation of metalliferous wastes, J. Appl. Ecol. 16:595, 1979

Zinc

field

A 135-hectare bare industrial area in Belgium with soil highly phytotoxic from non-ferrous metals: on 3 hectares, after treatment with beringite (an immobilising agent) and sowing of tolerant A. capillaris and Festuca rubra, a complete cover formed quickly and was still healthy and spreading 30 months later (Vangronsveld et al. 1995).

Vangronsveld et al., Reclamation of a bare industrial area contaminated by non-ferrous metals: in situ metal immobilization and revegetation, Environ. Pollut. 87:51, 1995

Limits

It removes nothing: metals stay in the soil and the cover only cuts dust, erosion and leaching. It needs the tolerant population suited to the site's metal and pH; normal commercial varieties fail. Without fertiliser, and on the most toxic soils without an immobilising amendment, the cover does not establish. The site must be monitored and not grazed.

Where it has been tried

Lommel-Maatheide and the Campine (zinc smelters)

PhytoremediationField scale, 1990–

Agrostis capillaris, Festuca rubra

In 1990 three hectares of bare, acid sandy soil at the former smelter were treated with beringite (a modified aluminosilicate from fluidised-bed burning of coal refuse) and composted municipal waste, then sown with metal-tolerant ecotypes of Agrostis capillaris and Festuca rubra.

Outcome A healthy plant cover developed; the water-extractable metal fraction in treated soil was up to 70 times lower than in untreated soil, and the soil's biological parameters also recovered.