Extensive Soil Survey Research Articles

An investigation of terrestrial dioxin distributions with respect to secondary non-ferrous refiners

The sampling strategy and analytical validation used to carry out an extensive soil survey for PCDDs and PCDFs around 3 secondary non-ferrous refiners are described. Dioxin levels ranged from 1.09 ng/kg to 209 ng/kg and the spatial distribution correlated with the presence and number of, and in two out of three cases, with proximity to, the metal refiners. If prevailing wind direction and observations on directional indicators are taken into consideration, the results are consistent with the refiners being sources of dioxins. This finding is supported by statistical analysis which shows that the highest levels detected are outliers with respect to all data, and occur mainly in the vicinity of the refiners.