Follow-up geochemical studies and mineralogical investigations by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) of soil samples from the industrial zone of Sisak, Croatia

Abstract

Geochemical investigation of topsoil from a mixed industrial and residential area in the southern part of the city of Sisak was carried out in order to determine the concentration, spatial distribution, metal-bearing phases and sources of Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Ti, V, W and Zn by applying inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). The uncontrolled industrial development in a very short period of only 50years, beginning in the 1930s and ending in the 1980s, has left a legacy of serious contamination of topsoil. The concentrations of studied elements in topsoil in the industrial zone were generally elevated and at some locations much higher compared to the rest of the Sisak area.Morphologies and chemical composition of metal-bearing particles in the heavy mineral fraction of three selected soil samples were studied using SEM/EDS. According to the results of the SEM/EDS analysis, the sources of studied elements could be ascribed predominantly to anthropogenic input from steelworks, recycling of steel scrap, ferroalloys production and to a lesser extent to the pedological processes in the soil and parent material. It is concluded that the SEM/EDS results provide significant information about the sources and apportionment of anthropogenic induced contamination in soil, and assist in the interpretation of conventional analytical results.