Environmental Impact Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements in Soils Near the Runway at the International Airport in Central Europe

Martin Brtnický,Václav Pecina,Michaela Vašinová Galiová,Agnieszka Bęś,Tivadar Baltazár,Ludmila Baláková,Maja Radziemska

doi:10.3390/su12177224

Abstract

The environmental impacts of air transport and air transportation systems have become increasingly important and are heavily debated. The aim of the study was to determine the degree of soil contamination by the potentially toxic elements (Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in the vicinity of the airport runway and to evaluate whether airport traffic has had factual toxic effects on airport vegetation. The overall assessment of soil contamination by means of the Nemerow integrated pollution index indicated slight pollution; evaluation by the geoaccumulation index evinced moderate contamination by Zn and nonexistent to moderate contamination by Cu, Ni, and Pb. A significant difference between the take-off and landing sections of the runway was not statistically confirmed. The vegetation risk assessment by means of the potential ecological risk index (RI) showed the low ecological risk, while the phytotoxicity test revealed an inhibition of up to 33.7%, with a slight inhibition of 16.7% on average, and thus low toxic effects of airport traffic on airport vegetation. The results of the linear regression model between phytotoxicity and RI manifested no relation between the two. The outcomes from other studies suggest that the range of elements and the extent of contamination can be highly variable at different airports and frequently affected by car traffic. Therefore, further research on this issue is needed for the more precise determination of the elements emitted by air traffic at airports.

Highlights

Among the broad spectrum of human activities that may have an impact on the degradation of the natural environment, transportation activity holds a significant position [1,2]
Air transportation is an important part of the economy and quality of life through the promotion of trade and tourism on a global scale [3,4,5]
Air travel/traffic brings many social and economic benefits [4,5,8], not merely for people involved in the aviation industry, and for local economies around the airports [9]

Summary

Introduction

Among the broad spectrum of human activities that may have an impact on the degradation of the natural environment, transportation activity holds a significant position [1,2]. This degradation may pertain to various components of the environment to different degrees (air, water, and soil), along with its landscape values. Air transportation is an important part of the economy and quality of life through the promotion of trade and tourism on a global scale [3,4,5]. Due to the existing large and still growing scale of air transport and the air transportation system, their undesirable environmental impacts have become increasingly important, and they are heavily debated [3,7,10,11]

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Conclusion