Sila Duzgun
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Iride Tomazic
Research Mentor School/College/Department: University of Michigan Museum of Archaeological Anthropology / LSA
Program:
Authors: Sila Duzgun, Iride Tomazic
Session: Session 6 3:40-4:30 p.m.Vandenburg Room
Poster:
Abstract
This project aims to understand the contamination of inorganic elements in topsoil (Cernozem) from agricultural land in Banat, Vojvodina, Serbia, and its impacts on domesticated plants. By examining the chemical composition of the topsoils from the same agricultural plots over the span of three years, this project aims to investigate the possible absorption rate of inorganic elements such as arsenic, sulfur, lead, and cadmium by domestic plants. These plants include Triticum aestivum (wheat), Helianthus annuus (sunflowers), Allium cepa (white onion), and Zea mays ssp. Mays (yellow corn). These plants are rotated yearly between the analyzed agricultural plots, thus pulling from and placing different elements into the soil. In order to understand the extent to which inorganic element levels could have impacted these domestic plants, topsoil soil samples from different sections or cores of these agricultural surfaces were compared to a nearby gallery, or small forested area, presumably free from human interference and the geological sediment found in the bottom of every agricultural core. The importance of this work speaks to the broader understanding of the mechanisms of lead, cadmium, sulfur, and arsenic, and their mitigation. As these elements are readily present in the wider environment and travel through soils, this study hopes to shed light on how plants can contribute to reducing soil contamination today and in the past.
