Long-term pollution by chlordecone of tropical volcanic soils in the French West Indies: New insights and improvement of previous predictions

Comte Irina, Pradel Alice, Grabit Armand, Mottes Charles, Pak Lai-Ting, Cattan Philippe. 2022. Long-term pollution by chlordecone of tropical volcanic soils in the French West Indies: New insights and improvement of previous predictions. Environmental Pollution, 303:119091, 8 p.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119091

Article de revue ; Article de recherche ; Article de revue à facteur d'impact

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Liste HCERES des revues (en SHS) : oui

Thème(s) HCERES des revues (en SHS) : Psychologie-éthologie-ergonomie

Résumé : Chlordecone (CLD), was widely applied in banana fields in the French West Indies from 1972 to 1993. The WISORCH model was constructed to assess soil contamination by CLD and estimated that it lasts from 100 to 600 years, depending on leaching intensity and assuming no degradation. However, recent studies demonstrated that CLD is degraded in the environment, hence questioning the reliability of previous estimations. This paper shows how to improve the model and provides insights into the long-term dissipation of CLD. In-situ observations were made in nearly 2545 plots between 2001 and 2020, and 17 plots were sampled at two dates. Results of soil analyses showed an unexpected 4-fold decrease in CLD concentrations in the soil, in contrast to simulations made using the first version of WISORCH at the time. Neither erosion, nor CLD leaching explained these discrepancies. In a top-down modeling approach, these new observations of CLD concentrations led us to implement a new dissipation process in the WISORCH model that corresponds to a DT50 dissipation half-life of 5 years. The new version of the improved model allowed us to update the prediction of the persistence of soil pollution, with soil decontamination estimated for the 2070s. This development calls for re-evaluation of soil pollution status. Further validation of the new version of WISORCH is needed so it can contribute to crop management on contaminated soil.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : persistance des pesticides, résidu de pesticide, pollution du sol, sol volcanique, chlordécone, sol pollué, décontamination chimique, contamination chimique

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Guadeloupe, France

Mots-clés libres : Organochlorine, Soil pollution, Pollution decrease, Modelling, Guadeloupe

Classification Agris : H02 - Pesticides
P02 - Pollution

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 4 (2019-) - Santé des plantes, des animaux et des écosystèmes

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