Brazilian Journal of Analytical Chemistry - BRJAC - Brazilian Journal ...

esearch, tourism and other human activities, and to
provide information for environmental monitoring [5].
Scientific programs installed in the Antarctic stations
have developed a wide range of environmental projects
targeting the measurement of anthropogenic contaminants
on that continent [6-11]. Soils and sediments are
the principal matrices used in these studies.
Soils are considered to be important contaminant
sinks in natural ecosystems. Therefore, chemical
analyses of these matrices are of special concern in
environmental studies [12,13]. A number of analytical
procedures can be used to discriminate between
anthropogenic pollution and background content in
soils. Sequential extraction procedures (SEPs) are often
utilized to obtain a diagnostic view of the chemical
distribution patterns of elements in soils [14-19]. Initially
developed by Tessier et al.. [19], SEPs prescribe
the use of different extractors with growing chemical
fi g u rE 1. Co l l E C t i o n P o i n t s (P#) in kEllEr PE n i n s u l a, ki n g gE o rg E is l a n d.
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Guerra et al.
strength and reactivity. This approach provides information
about the distribution of elements in labile and
more recalcitrant phases [14]. Single extractants (SEs)
such as EDTA, DTPA, diluted HCl, NH 4 NO 3 , CaCl 2 , and
NaNO 3 are already used in soil analysis [20-23]. These
SEs have some advantages with respect to SEPs because
they are simpler, faster, cost-effective and less
subject to analyte losses and contamination [23-25].
However, it is of the utmost relevance to determine
soil properties such as cation exchange capacity, pH,
organic matter content and granulometry, because
these variables are closely linked to the availability of
metallic elements in the soil solution [22].
In this context, for an adequate environmental study,
it is necessary to manage a large amount of data from
a lot of environmental samples, justifying on this way,
the use of chemometric tools for data processing and
exploitation.
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