Investigation Of Soil Contamination Research Articles

Investigation of soil contamination in a lubricant retail market in Ikoku, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The physicochemical properties, total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentration as well as that of lead, zinc, chromium, cadmium and arsenic in soil obtained from a lubricant retail market were determined. The PAHs, lead, chromium and zinc concentrations were found to be higher in comparison to the soil samples obtained from a typical residential area 2 km away. The average values for total PAH concentration in the sample soil were 3.76 /4.70 mg kg-1 (topsoil/subsoil). The values for the control (topsoil/subsoil) were 0.189/ 0.286 mg kg-1. The average concentrations of lead, zinc, chromium and cadmium in the sample (top-soil/ sub-soil) were 3.70/ 3.85, 9.7/9.69, 197.29/82.18 and 7.42/3.35 mg kg-1 respectively while in the same order, their values in the control gave 0.75/0.94, 8.86/9.40, 103.66/59.50 and 4.08/0.87 mg kg-1. The sample soil also showed an increase in some physicochemical parameters such as Total Organic Carbon (TOC), sulphate and nitrate contents as well conductivity both in the topsoil and the subsoil.

Investigation of Soil Contamination With Cryptosporidium spp. Oocysts in Different Regions of Yazd, Central Iran

Background: Cryptosporidium species are coccidian parasites that cause gastrointestinal disorders in humans and other animals worldwide. Objective: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the rate of contamination with Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts in soils collected from public parks, primary schools, green areas, kindergartens, suburban areas, streets, residential complexes, backyards and a passenger terminal in Yazd, central Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2014 to February 2015, and the samples were collected from 9 different study sites and 56 regions. Soil samples were investigated by flotation technique and modified Ziehl–Neelsen staining for Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts. Finally, the slides were examined with a light microscope. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20.0 and chi-square statistical test. Results: Of a total of 220 soil samples, 47 (21.36%) were found to contain Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the contamination rate and different study sites in Yazd, central Iran (P>0.05). The highest contamination rate was observed in public parks (38.3%) and the lowest in passenger terminal, kindergartens and streets (4.25%) (P=0.934). Conclusion: The results of the present study show that the contamination of soil with Cryptosporidium spp. can be considered a serious problem in Yazd, central Iran. It should be considered particularly in public parks.

Exploring the Potential of Spectral Classification in Estimation of Soil Contaminant Elements

Soil contamination by arsenic and heavy metals is an increasingly severe environmental problem. Efficiently investigation of soil contamination is the premise of soil protection and further the foundation of food security. Visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (VNIRS) has been widely used in soil science, due to its rapidity and convenience. With different spectrally active soil characteristics, soil reflectance spectra exhibit distinctive curve forms, which may limit the application of VNIRS in estimating contaminant elements in soil. Consequently, spectral clustering was applied to explore the potential of classification in estimating soil contaminant elements. Spectral clustering based on different distance measure methods and elements with different contamination levels were exploited. In this study, soil samples were collected from Hunan Province, China and 74 reflectance spectra of air-dried soil samples over 350–2500 nm were used to predict nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) concentrations. Spectral clustering was achieved by K-means clustering based on squared Euclidean distance and Cosine of spectral angle, respectively. The prediction model was calibrated with the combination of Genetic algorithm and partial least squares regression (GA-PLSR). The prediction accuracy shows that the prediction of Ni and Zn concentrations in soil was improved to different extents by the two clustering methods and the clustering based on squared Euclidean distance had better performance over the clustering relied on Cosine of the spectral angle. The result reveals the potential of spectral classification in predicting soil Ni and Zn concentrations. A selected subset of the 74 soil spectra was used to further explore the potential of spectral classification in estimating Zn concentrations. The prediction was dramatically improved by clustering based on squared Euclidean distance. Additionally, analysis on distance measure methods indicates that Euclidean distance is more suitable to describe the difference between the collected soil reflectance spectra, which brought the better performance of the clustering based on squared Euclidean distance.

Heavy Metal Pollution in Urban Soil from 1994 to 2012 in Kaifeng City, China

Heavy metal pollution in urban soil has become a serious environmental issue in China since the last three decades. Attention has been given to the investigation of soil contamination; however, there is little information available on the variation of heavy metal pollution in soils. To resolve this problem and provide references on similar regions, 18 topsoil (0∼20 cm) samples were collected from identical sites of districts that with different functions in Kaifeng City in 1994 and 2012. Total contents of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb were determined by standard methods. The variation of heavy metal pollution was evaluated by using geoaccumulation index and pollution load index. Results show a descending trend in heavy metal pollution of soil in Kaifeng City that demonstrated over the last 20 years, though there are still some contaminations in 2012. The highest concentration of soil metal was observed in industrial district, followed by the cultural and educational district, administrative business district, and entertaining district in turn. Concentrations of Pb in all soils and As in most soils were higher in 2012 than that in 1994, which mainly due to the rapid increase of motor vehicles and domestic garbage. Meanwhile, the concentrations of Hg and Cd in most soils were lower in 2012 than that in 1994, as the relocation and shutdown of industry and the wide development of environmental facilities. Land use and land cover change in urban areas can effect on soil metal pollution. When farmland transforms into urban land, the concentrations of soil metals would be increased, and also, the soil pollution will increase severely.

Soil Environmental Studies with Application of Space Technology Advances and Geotechnical Investigations

An investigation of soil contamination is a very important issue in soil environmental studies. It leads to classification of all living organisms in the soil, as well as essential materials and particles that these organisms use to survive which together form the soil ecosystem. It is vital to study the soil ecosystem to understand interface and relationship of organisms existing in the soil and their impact to environment surrounding them. Soil environmental study attracts an interest of scientists as one of the main factors of human live safety aspect. It is necessary to find out the way of combining of practical analysis and interpretation of soil surface information with further classification of environmental factors. Geotechnical investigations are useful instruments in soil quality studies. They are based on the field measurements, soil, and groundwater sampling directly from studied area. The samples are then analyzed in laboratories with appropriate equipment and chemical substances to determine their mineral composition, physical and mechanical properties, and extents of pollution. Remote Sensing method and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) represent the technology where geospatial data can be represented in the graphic form integrated into the geotechnical, geological and hydrological information routinely used by geotechnical engineers. Remote Sensing and GIS make available wide forms of spatial data to be integrated, selected, and sorted with any number of physical, chemical, or any possible environmental factors accessed by geotechnical measurements. There are number of existing traditional methods for soil environmental studies. It is extremely important to use advances of technology for daily human social and public needs maintaining and satisfactions.

광산지역 토양정밀조사 정도관리(QA/QC) 사례 연구

ABSTRACT A testing⋅inspection is one of the important in the industry, owing to determine the reliability and directivity of testing⋅inspection results. Therefore, the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) work which performed by personnel notdirectly in the inventory compilation⋅development, in testing⋅inspection must be thoroughly considered. Some agenciesfor environmental test inspection, they sometimes misunderstood that the QA/QC was ended with proficiency testingperformance and on-site assessment by a director. Thus, results were often calculated without QA/QC work by selfmanual when conducting test. The objective of this study was to improve reliability of testing and inspection agencythrough the QA/QC case study which basically performed to raising reliability of testing and inspection agency. In thisstudy, it increased reliability of result by verifying calibration curve (IC, ICV, CCV), blank, accuracy (LCS, MS) andprecision as QA/QC performance, while performing investigation of soil contamination in mining areas. This studysuggests that reliability establishing method of test result and management method of analysis process, through the QA/QC instance of testing agency.Key words :QA/QC, Testing, LCS, MS

Sistema de gestão ambiental como suporte na identificação dos custos com controle, preservação e recuperação do meio ambiente

To eliminate or destroy the negative effects of the environmental damage caused by the enterprises is even more necessary considering that the environmental issue today is a relevant social problem. An additional cost caused by the environmental adequacy can be identified by the use of the Environmental Management System (EMS), this research’s aim is map the costs with control, prevention and recovery of the environmental using the adopted EMS. The descriptive research was developed by a case study in a Coca Cola industry, because this is one of the sectors that the environmental variable is highlighted due of the huge competitive in the globalized market. The information was collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interview and the results shows that the identification and account of the environmental costs is supported on the implanted EMS. It was concluded that in the SAP system, the representative account of the costs with preservation and recovery of the productive chain are classified as the indirect costs of manufacture and are in the final product. The costs are with qualification program of suppliers and employees, soot control, treatment of industry effluents, destination of industrial waste, water recovery and coal, sand and rinser filters, investigation of soil contamination and tests and measures of contamination levels - Due Dilligence in lands.

Investigation of Soil Contamination in Jianghan Oilfield

There are several hundred of abandoned oil wells in Jianghan oil field now. They were mainly started to be used in 70-80`s of last century, and mainly closed around 2000. After closure, the soil around the oil wells left uncultivated because of oil pollution, which caused serious waste of soil resource. In the present paper, 135 soil samples were collected from 15 oil well areas. Salinity, pH, petroleum hydrocarbon, heavy metals and some other elements were analyzed. According to the investigation, the soil of Jianghan oilfield showed high salinity, and tended to alkali. Petroleum hydrocarbon is dotted distribution, and some sites showed extremely high content as 24.67%. Some elements containing some heavy metals in Jianghan oilfield exceeded standard values and control samples, which may also be caused by oil exploitation.

Application of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for heavy metal analysis of soils in crop fields near abandoned mine sites

To get representative soil samples, a sampling method was verified for crop fields in the vicinity of abandoned mine sites. Application of appropriate sampling or analytical methods is very important as it affects the costs, time, and accuracy of the refined investigation of soil contamination. Two-time sampling for each crop field was conducted to verify the reproducibility of a zigzag method for soil sampling. The soil analysis using a portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) device was conducted to measure concentrations of metal species in soils, and its results were compared to the extracted concentrations by the Korean Standard Test (KST) for soils. As a result, the determination coefficient (R (2)) of linear regression analysis for data obtained by ex situ precise measurement or in situ field screening using pXRF was closely related with the ratio of the extracted concentration by KST to interference-free detection limits (IFDL) of pXRF (designated as KST/IFDL). As the specific metal species had a higher ratio of KST/IFDL, its R (2) was even higher in the field screening tests. However, the slopes of linear regression analysis for most metal species extracted by aqua-regia were close to 1.0 so that extracted concentrations by aqua-regia were similar to the analytical values obtained by pXRF, whereas extraction using a weak acid (0.1 M HCl) had different slopes for soils contaminated with different ranges of concentrations of metal species. Especially Zn showed not only high ratios of KST/IFDL because of aqua regia extraction, but also high determination coefficients. Because of its simple, rapid, and accurate capacities for metal analysis, the pXRF analysis showed high applicability in ex situ precise measurements or in situ field screening of metal analysis. In terms of applicability for regulation, especially in situ pXRF field screening with the zigzag method could be effectively applied to achieve an economical survey by determining hot spots or non-contaminated areas if aqua-regia was applied as the extracting agent in the KST for soils.

Ascaris, people and pigs in a rural community of Jiangxi Province, China.

A longitudinal investigation on natural populations of Ascaris in humans and pigs and an investigation of soil contamination with Ascaris eggs were carried out from June 1993 to June 1994 in 2 villages, Manhu area, Xinjian County, Jiangxi Province, China. Results from these studies indicate that although human ascariasis is endemic there is significant fluctuation in both prevalence and the mean number of eggs/g faeces (epg) of the communities. Fluctuation of age-stratified prevalence and mean epg was detected in children but not in most adult groups. Most cases of human ascariasis were judged to involve low intensities of infection and a typical overdispersion distribution pattern was observed through the year. It was estimated that during the year, nearly half of the eggs discharged in the environment came from infections in children aged between 2 and 15 years which accounted for about 30% of the total population. Soil in and around houses and in vegetable gardens was found to be contaminated by Ascaris eggs and this situation remained relatively stable throughout the year. Monthly developmental rate of Ascaris eggs in soil was detected and the results suggest that the fluctuation in prevalence observed during the year should be directly attributed to the effect of seasonality of egg development. Features of Ascaris infection in pigs were found to be similar to those in humans except for a lower mean intensity of infection. The possibility of cross-infection of Ascaris between human and pig hosts is discussed.