BEHAVIOR OF THE INSECTICIDES ETHOPROPHOS AND CARBOFURAN DURING SOIL-WATER TRANSPORT

The movement of the organophosphate nematicide-insecticide ethoprophos (ethoprop; O-ethyl S,S-dipropyl phosphorodithioate) and the carbamate insecticide-nematicide carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethylbenzofuran-7-yl methylcarbamate) was studied under steady-state flow in small-scale laboratory soil columns. Miscible displacement column experiments, mass balance calculations, and batch incubation studies furnished information on insecticide sorption and degradation processes that occur during transport through soil. Miscible displacement studies demonstrated that ethoprophos degradation could be described as first-order and that both insecticides exhibited non-equilibrium sorption. Both batch and miscible displacement results showed ethoprophos to be more strongly sorbed by soil than carbofuran. Measured equilibrium sorption coefficients were 1.29 cm3 g-1 for ethoprophos and 0.29 cm3 g-1 for carbofuran on a Riverhead soil (0.011 organic carbon fraction); 0.35 cm3 g-1 for carbofuran on Valois soil (0.016 organic carbon fraction); and 2.38 cm3 g-1 for ethoprophos on Rhinebeck soil (0.031 organic carbon fraction). Two solutions to the convection-dispersion equation, one that incorporated equilibrium sorption and another (bicontinuum model) that included a non-equilibrium sorption term, allowed quantitative evaluation of transport processes. The bicontinuum model used in conjunction with experimental batch and mass balance techniques provided estimates of insecticide sorption and degradation parameters.