Assessing the control exerted by soil mineralogy in the fixation of potentially harmful elements in the urban soils of Lisbon,Portugal

The main purposes of this study are the textural, chemical and mineralogical characterization of the urban soils of Lisbon and the identification of probable relations between the several soil properties. The results are used to infer which soil properties control the superficial dispersion of potential harmful elements to human health. Soil sampling was carried out in 51 selected sites all through the city, under the criterion that such sites should be spaces usually frequented by children. The concentrations of 42 elements in the >2 mm soil size fraction were determined at a commercial laboratory in Canada (ActLabs, LTD), by ICP-MS/ICP-OES after an acid digestion with aqua regia. The soil mineralogy was determined by X-ray diffraction in the <2 and <62 μm size fractions. The results indicate that the urban soils have mainly a sandy texture and a main mineralogical assemblage of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and calcite. In terms of clay minerals, smectite, illite and kaolinite are the main clays in the soil. Smectite and illite show a dichotomy in their distribution, with the smectites prevailing in the soils of the volcanic complex of Lisbon, which are classified as being residual, and illite prevailing in the remaining soils, which are considered mainly as man-made soils. Smectite seems to exert an important role in the fixation of Ni and Cr. The results of the geochemical study show that Ni and Cr have concentrations above the soil guideline value established to the UK and pose a probable risk to human health.     

Particulate-associated potentially harmful elements in urban road dusts in Xi’an,China

Sixty five urban road dust samples were collected from different land use areas of ∼240 km² in Xi’an, China. The concentrations of Ag, As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb and Zn were determined to investigate potentially harmful element (PHE) contamination, distribution and possible sources. In addition, the concentrations in different size fractions were measured to assess their potential impact on human health. The highest concentrations were found in the fraction with particle diameters between 80 μm and 101 μm, the finest particles (<63 μm) were not the most important carriers for Ag, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn. The percentages of these elements in particles with diameters less than 63 μm (PM₆₃) and less than 101 μm (PM₁₀₁) were in the range of 7–15%, and 30–55%, respectively. Three main factors influencing element distributions have been identified: (a) industrial activities; (b) prior agricultural land use; and (c) other activities commonly found in urban areas, such as traffic, coal combustion, waste dumping, and building construction/renovation. The highest concentrations were found in industrial areas for As (20 mg kg⁻¹), Cr (853 mg kg⁻¹), Cu (1071 mg kg⁻¹), Pb (3060 mg kg⁻¹) and Zn (2112 mg kg⁻¹), and in previous agricultural areas for Ag and Hg, indicating significant contributions from industrial activities and prior agricultural activities.     

Available contents of potentially toxic elements in soils from the Eastern Amazon

Background Values of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in soils are typically obtained from total or pseudo-total contents, but not represent the fraction of these elements available for plant uptake due to the predominance of the stable forms. Available contents to plants, in turn, tend to be positively correlated with the potential risk of contamination of PTEs. In this study, we determined the available contents, extracted with Mehlich-III solution, of Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in Oxisols and Ultisols in the state of Pará, Eastern Amazon, Brazil. Available contents ranged from low to very low when compared to soils from other Brazilian regions and from other countries. Contents of PTE were higher in Oxisols than in Ultisols, except for Cu and Ni. In the Oxisols, PTEs were positively correlated with clay content. However, PTEs were not correlated with soil pH, organic matter and cation exchange capacity. In the Ultisols, Ba, Cu, Pb, and Mn contents were significantly correlated with pH, while Ni contents were correlated with the contents of silt.     

Factors affecting the distribution of potentially toxic elements in surface soils around an industrialized area of northwestern Greece

In order to investigate the factors influencing the distribution of 32 potentially toxic elements in the Ptolemais–Kozani basin, northwestern Greece, 38 soil samples were collected and analyzed. Concentrations of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Ti, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, La, Li, Ni, Pb, Sc, Sr, V, Y, and Zn were determined by ICP-AES and concentrations of As, Bi, Cd, Cs, Mo, Rb, Sb, Th, Tl, and U by ICP-MS. Bivariate analysis, principal component analysis, and geostatistical analysis were employed to investigate the factors influencing the distribution of the elements determined in the study area. The results indicate that the distribution of the majority of elements determined, especially for Cr, Ni, and associated elements, is greatly influenced by the geology and geomorphology of the study area. Principal component analysis has yielded four factors that explain over 77% of the total variance in the data. These factors are as follows: lithophilic elements that are associated with Al silicates minerals of K (factor I: 29.4%), ultramafic rocks (factor II: 20.5%), elements that are coprecipitated with Fe and Mn oxides (factor III: 18.0%), and anthropogenic activities (factor IV: 9.3%). The anthropogenic activities that influence the distribution of several potentially toxic elements (i.e., Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn) are agricultural practices and the deposition of fly ash in the vicinity of the local power stations.     

Lessons learnt from Typhoons Fitow and In-Fa: implications for improving urban flood resilience in Asian Coastal Cities

Natural Hazards - Frequent typhoons significantly affect many coastal cities via intensive rainstorms, tidal surges and strong wind. Natural factors induced by human disturbance such as climate...     

Mobility of trace and potentially harmful elements in the environment from high sulfur Indian coal mines

Coal mine rejects and sulfide bearing coals are prone to acid mine drainage (AMD) formation due to aqueous weathering. These acidic effluents contain dissolved trace and potentially harmful elements (PHEs) that have considerable impact on the environment. The behavior of these elements in AMD is mainly controlled by pH. The focus of the present study is to investigate aqueous leaching of mine rejects for prediction of acid producing potential, rates of weathering, and release of PHEs in mine drainage. Mine reject (MR) and coal samples from the active mine sites of Meghalaya, India typically have high S contents (1.8–5.7% in MR and 1.7–4.7% in coals) with 75–90% of the S in organic form and enrichment of most of the PHEs in rejects. Aqueous kinetic leaching experiments on mine rejects showed high acid producing potential and release of trace and potentially harmful elements. The elements (Sb, As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni, V and Zn) in mine sample leachates are compared with those in mine waters. The concentrations of Al, Si, P, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb are found to increase with leaching time and are negatively correlated with pH of the solution. The processes controlling the release of these elements are acid leaching, precipitation and adsorption. The critical loads of PHEs in water affected by AMD are calculated by comparing their concentrations with those of regulatory levels. The Enrichment Factors (EFs) and soil pollution indices (SPIs) for the elements have shown that PHEs from coal and mine reject samples are mobilized into the nearby environment and are enriched in the associated soil and sediment.     

Biogeographical affinities of marine algae in the Saronikos Gulf,Athens, Greece

Hard substrate photophilius marine algae species of the Saronikos Gulf amount to 197. Of them, 42 were Atlantic subtropical, 36 Atlantic tropical, and just 19 Atlantic boreal and 11 Boreal. The R/P ratio was 3.22. This shows the Atlantic subtropical character of the marine flora.     

Rhizosphere and flooding regime as key factors for the mobilisation of arsenic and potentially harmful metals in basic,mining-polluted salt marsh soils

The occurrence of mining areas in the vicinities of salt marshes may affect their ecological functions and facilitate the transfer of pollutants into the food chain. The mobilisation of metals in salt marsh soils is controlled by abiotic (pH, redox potential) and biotic (influence of rhizosphere) factors. The effect of the rhizosphere of two plant species (Sarcocornia fruticosa and Phragmites australis) and different flooding regimes on potentially harmful metals and As mobilisation from salt marsh soil polluted by mining activities were investigated (total concentrations: 536 mg kg⁻¹ As, 37 mg kg⁻¹ Cd, 6746 mg kg⁻¹ Pb, 15,320 mg kg⁻¹ Zn). The results show that the changes in redox conditions (from 300 mV to −100 mV) and pH after flooding and rewetting periods may mobilise the contaminant elements into soil solution (e.g., 100 μg L⁻¹ Cd, 30 μg L⁻¹ Pb, 7 mg L⁻¹ Zn), where they are available for plants or may be leached from the soil. Drying periods generated peaks of concentrations in the soil solution (up to 120 μg L⁻¹ Cd and 50 μg L⁻¹ Pb). The risk assessment of As and metal-polluted salt marshes should take into account flood dynamics in order to prevent metal(loid) mobilisation.     

Site-Specific Analysis of Strong Motion Data from the September 7, 1999 Athens,Greece Earthquake

The strong ground motion from Athens, Greece 07/09/1999 earthquake has been recorded by eighteen (18) stations, fourteen (14) within the central Athens area and four (4) at the centers of nearby towns. The ground conditions for most of the recording sites were identified, based on previous geotechnical investigations carried out in the wider area of the sites, and consequently correlated to the seismic motion characteristics. Hence, it has been possible to evaluate the accuracy of different seismological methods for site characterization and also estimate soil effects on peak ground acceleration and elastic response spectra. In addition, preliminary estimates are drawn for the seismic motion characteristics at the epicentral area, where no strong motion recordings are available. The detailed soil profiles at the recordingsites are placed in the Appendix.     

Environmental quality assessment and spatial pattern of potentially toxic elements in soils of Guangdong Province, China

The spatial distributions of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations in surface soils of Guangdong Province, China, were investigated to evaluate the environmental quality of these potentially toxic elements using 261 samples. The following average concentrations were obtained: Cu, 17.4 mg/kg; Ni, 17.7 mg/kg; Cr, 56.7 mg/kg; Co, 6.8 mg/kg; Mn, 223.2 mg/kg; Pb, 36.6 mg/kg; Hg, 0.10 mg/kg; Cd, 0.09 mg/kg; Zn, 49.8 mg/kg. Correlation analysis was applied to the data matrix to evaluate the results and identify the possible sources of metals. Distribution maps of the elements were created using the inverse distance weighted interpolation method. The nine metals exhibited generally distinct geographical patterns. Results showed that 5,173 km² of the study area presented higher pollution indices and was slightly polluted.     

Engineering geological conditions and the effects of the 1981 earthquake in Athens,Greece

The 1981 earthquakes, manifested in the Gulf of Corinth, brought serious structural damage to buildings in the city of Athens. Because of the observed concentration of damages in the Halandri district of Athens, an investigation of soil conditions was carried out. This included boreholes, measurement of physicomechanical properties of soil and weak rock units and determination of the depth to top-of-rock and thickness of recent deposits. Based on stratigraphy, the area studied was divided in five zones. For each zone, the total number of damaged buildings was determined and the percentages of damage to three-storey and multi-storey buildings were calculated. Seismic characteristics, acceleration and dominant period of soil and weak rock formations were estimated. From the above analysis, it is concluded that the dominant period of the soil, in the zones where most of the damage to multi-storey buildings was observed, is approximately equal to the dominant period of these buildings.     

Total concentration,speciation and mobility of potentially toxic elements in soils around a mining area in central Iran

The current study was designed to investigate the extent and severity of contamination as well as the fractionation of potentially toxic elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni) in minesoils and agricultural soils around a Pb–Zn mine in central Iran. For this purpose, 20 agricultural soils and eight minesoils were geochemically characterized. Results showed that minesoils contained elevated concentrations of As (12.9–254 mg kg⁻¹), Cd (1.2–55.1 mg kg⁻¹), Pb (137–6239 mg kg⁻¹) and Zn (516–48,889 mg kg⁻¹). The agricultural soils were also polluted by As (5.5–57.1 mg kg⁻¹), Cd (0.2–8.5 mg kg⁻¹), Pb (22–3451 mg kg⁻¹) and Zn (94–9907 mg kg⁻¹). The highest recorded concentrations for these elements were in soils influenced directly by tailing ponds. Chromium, Cu and Ni content in agricultural soils (with average value of 74.1, 34.6 and 50.7 mg kg⁻¹, respectively) were slightly higher than the minesoils (with average value of 54.5, 33.1 and 43.4 mg kg⁻¹, respectively). Sequential extraction data indicated that there were some differences between the speciation of PTEs in soil samples. In the agricultural soils, Zn and Cd were mainly associated with carbonate bound fraction, As and Pb with reducible fraction, Cu with oxidisable fraction and Cr and Ni with residual phase. With respect to mobility factor values, Zn and Cd in the agricultural soils have been found to be the most mobile while As mobility is negligible. Also, the mobility factor of As, Cd and Pb in agricultural soils adjoining tailing ponds was high. In minesoil sample Cd was most abundant in the carbonate form, whereas other studied elements were mainly present in the reducible and residual fractions; therefore, despite the high total concentrations of As, Pb and Zn in the minesoils, the environmental risk of these elements was low. Based on the obtained data, a portion of Cu, Cr and Ni input was from agricultural activities.     

Geochemical patterns in soils of the karst region,Croatia

Soil samples were collected at 420 locations in a 5-km grid pattern in the Istria and Gorski Kotar areas of Croatia, and on the Croatian islands of Cres, Rab and Krk, in order to relate geochemical variation in the soils to underlying differences in geology, bedrock lithology, soil type, environment and natural versus anthropogenic influences. Specific objectives included assessment of possible agricultural and industrial sources of contamination, especially from airborne effluent emitted by a local power plant. The study also tested the adequacy of a fixed-depth soil sampling procedure developed for meager karstic soils. Although 40 geochemical variables were analyzed, only 15 elements and 5 radionuclides are common to all the sample locations. These elements can be divided into three groups: (1) those of mostly anthropogenic origin — Pb, V, Cu and Cr; (2) those of mixed origin — radionuclides and Zn; and (3) those of mostly geogene origin — Ba, Sr, Ti, Al, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Ni and Co. Variation in Pb shows a strong correlation with the pattern of road traffic in Istria. The distributions of Ca, Na and Mg in the flysch basins of southern Istria and Slovenia are clearly distinguishable from the distributions of these elements in the surrounding carbonate terrains, a consequence of differences in bedrock permeability, type of drainage and pH. The spatial pattern of ¹³⁷Cs from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident reflects almost exclusively the precipitation in Istria during the days immediately after the explosion.     

Content of the potentially harmful elements in soil around the major coal-fired power plant in Serbia: relation to soil characteristics,evaluation of spatial distribution and source apportionment

The concentrations and spatial distribution of nine potentially harmful elements (PHEs), namely Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn, and their relation to soil properties were investigated in thirty soil profiles (0–50 cm depth) sampled around the largest Serbian coal-fired power plant (CFPP) “Nikola Tesla A.” Soil properties were determined following standard procedures, and total contents of PHEs were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometer. Concentrations of Cd, Co, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn were the highest in soil profiles sampled 1 km away from the CFPP, concentrations of Ni and Cu gradually increased up to 4 km, and the highest Cr concentrations were measured in samples taken 6 km away from the CFPP. The highest concentration of PHEs analyzed, except Mn, corresponded with predominant wind directions. Depth did not show significant impact on distribution of any PHEs investigated. Among soil properties, the total organic carbon showed the closest relationship with the PHEs. Data were processed by a principal component analysis which enabled distinguishing anthropogenic from natural influences on soil properties and PHE contents. Although the impact of CFPP operations is obvious, assets of principal component analysis did not allow clear distinction of CFPP’s contribution from parent material in enrichment of PHE contents in the soil in the study area.     

华中地区几种土壤铁锰胶膜及其基质中某些元素的地球化学特点

通过对华北地区几种土壤和胶膜中某些性质及元素的相关分析和因子分析。比较了铁锰胶膜和基质土壤的性质及元素含量之间的关系。研究表明，（1）铁锰胶膜的pH值，粘粒含量，K2O,Na2O,MnO2，非晶质铁，铁的活化度，微量元素等的含量均比基质土壤的高，且差异显著；（2）铁锰胶膜富集重金属元素，Co,Ni,Cu和Zn等元素主要富集于胶膜的氧化锰矿物中，而Pb主要富集在氧化铁矿物中；（3）Mg在铁锰胶膜的形成过程中进一步淋溶，以致含量减少。     

Comendite-bearing subduction-related volcanic associations in the Khan-Bogd area,southern Mongolia: Geochemical data

The vertical section of volcanic rocks in the Khan-Bogd Late Paleozoic depression, southern Mongolia, in the belt of southern Mongolian Hercynides contains comendites. The basement of the depression is made up of Devonian ophiolites (older than 362 Ma) overlain by volcanic associations of an active continental margin (ACM) (dated at 330 Ma) and a bimodal association (dated at approximately 290 Ma), which is subdivided into a lower unit (BLU), dacites of the intermediate layer (IL), and a bimodal association of the upper unit (BUU). The volcanic associations of the Devonian and ACM are calc-alkaline and poor in TiO₂. The BLU rocks have higher alkalinity and TiO₂ concentrations and show a transition from the tholeiitic to calc-alkaline series in the course of differentiation with the origin of comendites and trachyrhyolites, including those with adakite characteristics. The IL dacites are analogues of calc-alkaline magmas of the ACM type. The BUU volcanic association is composed of tholeiite basalts with moderate Ti concentrations (of the MORB type), comendites, and trachyrhyolites, with a compositional gap at rocks of intermediate composition. The variations in the canonical ratios of incompatible trace elements and petrochemical parameters of the Khan-Bogd volcanic rocks show that their parental magmas were derived mostly from a source of basalts of the arc type (IAB) with the addition of variable proportions of a source of the MORB type. The greatest role of the latter is identified in the magmas of the bimodal association. BLU and BUU are separated by IL, a fact testifying that the bimodal volcanism occurred simultaneously with normal dacite continental-marginal volcanism. Although the geodynamic environments in which volcanic rocks were formed somewhat varied during the development of the Khan-Bogd depression, a subduction environment remained predominant, and the volcanic rocks were derived from an IAB-type source. The subduction volcanic associations produced thereby are differentiated and vary in composition from basites to dacite and rhyolite, which could be formed at the assimilation of continental crustal material (CC). Conceivably, the bimodal volcanic association was generated when the subduction zone was approached by a mid-oceanic ridge, whose material could be added in appreciable amounts to the subduction sources. The volcanic evolution of the Khan-Bogd depression shows an evolution of geodynamic environments and the composition of the volcanic rocks generally resembling those in the western margin of North America in the Cenozoic. The acid BLU and BUU rocks were most probably generated by different mechanisms. The BLU comendites and trachyrhyolites were likely formed by the crystallization differentiation of an arc basite magma of elevated alkalinity. The acid BUU rocks resulted from the anatexis of basites of this association, particularly spilitized ones (as well as any other basites) and the subsequent crystallization differentiation of the anatectic magmas.