Submicron Distribution and Association of Copper and Organic Carbon in A Contaminated Soil Using Scanning Transmission X-ray Microspectroscopy

Copper (Cu), as one of the typical heavy metals, is frequently concentrated in soils as a result of mining and smeltering activities Since the mobility and bioavailability of Cu in soils depends greatly on its chemical speciation, molecular-level understanding the distribution and association of Cu with soil components is important for the prediction of Cu fate. Cu was predominantly associated with soil organic carbon (SOC) in contaminated agricultural soils Since the heterogeneity of functional C domains of SOC occurred at the sub-micron spatial scale in soils However, the submicron distribution and association of Cu with various functional C domains of the SOC in contaminated soils has been little reported. Scanning transmission X-ray microspectroscopy (STXM) could probe the distribution of various C-domains of SOC and Cu at submicron spatial scale [8, Therefore, the objectives of this study is to characterize the speciation, distribution and association of Cu and functional C-domains of SOC in a contaminated agricultural soil clay fraction using multiple synchrotron-based EXAFS and STXM.