Abstract
AbstractWe have conducted mineral magnetic investigations of polluted topsoil samples, which were collected in the vicinity of a steel plant and a coal‐burning power plant in Sanming City, Fujian Province, southeast China. The methods used include the temperature‐dependence of magnetic susceptibility, hysteresis loops and isothermal remanent magnetization acquisition curves. High‐temperature susceptibility measurements suggest that magnetite, partially oxidized magnetite, hematite and pyrrhotite exist in the polluted topsoil samples. The studied samples show mean magnetic grain‐sizes of large pseudo‐single domain, and multidomain‐like or multidomain. For the samples with significantly high susceptibility (x) and low frequency‐dependent susceptibility (x), x and xfd measurements can be used as an effective method for detecting the polluted topsoils. For the samples with relatively low x and high xfd, the presence of ferrimagnetic iron sulphide can serve as a potential pollution indicator in the case that an origin from bedrock weathering has been excluded. We further suggest that mineral magnetic measurements can provide a better and more complete understanding of the pollution processes forindustrially‐polluted topsoils.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
