Pesticide adsorption in the vadose zone:: a case study on Eocene and Quaternary materials in Northern France

We present a set of adsorption coefficients measured on various Eocene and Quaternary materials sampled from the vadose zone of a catchment in Northern France for three herbicides, atrazine, isoproturon and metamitron. Some vadose zone materials were found to have higher adsorption coefficients than the topsoil. The adsorption coefficients were strongly dependent on the clay content of the material. From 83% to 97% of the variability in the adsorption coefficients could be explained by a linear relationship to the clay content. Adsorption coefficients normalized for clay content, K-clay, ranged between 1.6 and 17.6 litre kg(-1) for atrazine. Neglecting the adsorption properties of the vadose zone and relying exclusively on K-oc values to predict mobility may bias regional or local risk assessment of groundwater contamination by pesticides. More information on the adsorption properties of geological materials should be collected to improve our ability to predict pesticide concentrations in groundwaters. (C) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry.