Carcinogenic risk evaluation for human health risk assessment from soils contaminated with heavy metals

Human activities have progressively increased in recent years. Consequently, significant environment deterioration resulted. Soils have a particularly varied vulnerability to heavy metal pollution, especially in the vicinity of industrial areas. Heavy metal contamination of soil may induce risks and hazards to humans and the ecosystem, while toxic metals in soil can severely inhibit the biodegradation of organic contaminants. This paper is focused on human health risk assessment from extremely contaminated soil with heavy metals, mainly with carcinogenic elements. The study refers to an agricultural area in the vicinity of an old metallurgical processing industrial facility. The contaminants evaluated in the present paper are beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb). Contamination level is pointed out through laboratory analysis results of soil samples taken from 0–0.2 m, 0.2–0.4 m soil layers and up to 2.1 m soil depth. Some heavy metal concentrations (Cd, Cr and Pb) exceed the intervention thresholds for sensitive areas, as they are stipulated in the national regulation in Romania. The identified average concentration levels of Cd, Cr^VI and Pb in the first layer of the investigated land are 23.83, 7.71 and 704.22 mg/kg_d.w, respectively. The results show that the potential risk of human health is relevant (higher than the acceptable one after World Health Organization) and a possible solution for the remediation should become a major concern for the investigated area.     

A sulfur isotope study of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the Eastern Black Sea province,Turkey

Kuroko-type massive sulfide deposits of the Eastern Black Sea province of Turkey are related to the Upper Cretaceous felsic lavas and pyroclastic rocks, and associated with clay and carbonate alteration zones in the footwall and hangingwall lithologies. A complete upward-vertical section of a typical orebody consists of a stringer-disseminated sulfide zone composed mainly of pyrite and chalcopyrite; a massive pyrite zone; a massive yellow ore consisting mainly of chalcopyrite and pyrite; a black ore made up mainly of galena and sphalerite with minor amounts of chalcopyrite, bornite, pyrite and various sulfosalts; and a barite zone. Most of the deposits in the province are associated with gypsum in the footwall or hangingwall. The paragenetic sequence in the massive ore is pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, bornite, galena and various sulfosalts, with some overlap between the mineral phases. Massive, stringer and disseminated sulfides from eight kuroko-type VMS deposits of the Eastern Black Sea province have a ³⁴S range of 0–7 per mil, consistent with the ³⁴S range of felsic igneous rocks. Sulfides in the massive ore at Madenköy (4.3–6.1 per mil) differ isotopically from sulfides in the stringer zone (6.3–7.2 per mil) suggesting a slightly increased input of H₂S derived from marine sulfate with time. Barite and coarse-grained gypsum have a ³⁴S range of 17.7–21.5 per mil, a few per mil higher than the ³⁴S value of contemporaneous seawater sulfate. The deposits may, therefore, have formed in restricted basins in which bacterial reduction of sulfate was taking place. Fine-grained, disseminated gypsum at Kutlular and Tunca has ³⁴S values (2.6–6.1 per mil) overlapping those of ore sulfides, indicating sulfide oxidation during waning stages of hydrothermal activity.     

PGE fractionation in seafloor hydrothermal systems: examples from mafic- and ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal fields at the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The distribution of platinum group elements (PGEs) in massive sulfides and hematite–magnetite±pyrite assemblages from the recently discovered basalt-hosted Turtle Pits hydrothermal field and in massive sulfides from the ultramafic-hosted Logatchev vent field both on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was studied and compared to that from selected ancient volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits. Cu-rich samples from black smoker chimneys of both vent fields are enriched in Pd and Rh (Pd up to 227 ppb and Rh up to 149 ppb) when compared to hematite–magnetite-rich samples from Turtle Pits (Pd up to 10 ppb, Rh up to 1.9 ppb). A significant positive correlation was established between Cu and Rh in sulfide samples from Turtle Pits. PGE chondrite-normalized patterns (with a positive Rh anomaly and Pd and Au enrichment), Pd/Pt and Pd/Au ratios close to global MORB, and high values of Pd/Ir and Pt/Ir ratios indicate mafic source rock and seawater involvement in the hydrothermal system at Turtle Pits. Similarly shaped PGE chondrite-normalized patterns and high values of Pd/Pt and Pd/Ir ratios in Cu-rich sulfides at Logatchev likely reflect a similar mechanism of PGE enrichment but with involvement of ultramafic source rocks.     

Environmental hazard analysis of a gypsum karst depression area with geophysical methods: a case study in Sivas (Turkey)

Because the mixture of seawater and freshwater in the Gyeongin-Ara Waterway in South Korea can lead to the intrusion of saline water into surrounding aquifers, systematic management through the establishment of a groundwater protection area is required. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model is used to delineate this protection area based on two primary factors and five secondary factors related to saline water intrusion. The study area is divided into 987 gridded cells with a unit size of 100 × 100 m, and the final evaluation score for each cell is calculated using the AHP model. Consequently, several artificial neural network models based on a multilayer perceptron are developed using the AHP’s secondary criteria and the evaluation score. Comparing the evaluation scores of ANN and AHP, more than 180 samples are required in the ANN model to insure high R2 between the original and estimated values. The ANN model is more consistent than the AHP model when determining groundwater protection area, because it can be re-constructed due to the changes in some secondary criteria and also changed due to a standardization process. The final evaluation score by the ANN model based on 300 samples, with the highest R2, is calculated and the regions with a score higher than 2.0 are selected as the groundwater protection area, accounting for 15% of the total cells. This area is similar to the range within approximately 200 m of the GA Waterway and also includes some changing sites in hydrogeochemistry and electric conductivity, which is produced by saline water intrusion. If the land-use type, groundwater levels, and some other criteria change at any cell, the ANN model can be re-executed to verify whether the cell belongs to a groundwater protection area. Considering that salinity of groundwater near the waterway can be affected by various factors including well depth, pumping conditions, and groundwater levels, the ANN model, which is a non-linear model, can be more effective for prediction than the AHP model.     

Heavy metals in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mytilus galloprovincialis</Emphasis>, suspended particulate matter and sediment from offshore submerged longline system,Black Sea

The study was performed between March 2009 and March 2010 at the Sinop Inner Harbor on cultured mussels at the offshore submerged longline system. The samples of mussels, sediment and suspended particulate matter were seasonally taken for the purpose of monitoring differences of metal contents. In addition, burnable organic matter, contamination factors (CF), pollution load index (PLI) in sediment samples, meat yield of mussels were seasonally determined. All metals in suspended particulate matter were found to be above the national limit. Cd concentration in sediment was above the limit according to sediment quality guidelines, and Cd concentration in mussel was above both national and international limit values. According to CF and PLI identified in sediment, it was found that Inner Harbor was under the effect of anthropogenic pollution in terms of Cd accumulation. Provisional tolerable weekly intake calculated in mussel did not exceed the tolerable consumption values. In conclusion, it can be said that this region considered for commercial mussel cultivation is not a suitable area.     

The measurement of soil gases and shallow temperature for determination of active faults in a geothermal area: a case study from Ömer–Gecek,Afyonkarahisar (West Anatolia)

Afyonkarahisar is a very important geothermal province of western Anatolia and has low and medium enthalpy geothermal areas. This study has been carried out for the preparation of distribution maps of soil gases (radon and carbon dioxide) and shallow soil temperature and the exploration of permeable tectonic regions associated with geothermal systems and reveal the origins of radon and carbon dioxide gases. The western district of the study area is characterized by the high radon concentration (168.30 kBq/m³), carbon dioxide ratio (0.30%), and soil temperature (21.0 °C) values. Fethibey and Demirçevre faults, which allow the circulation of geothermal fluids, have been detected in the distribution maps of radon, carbon dioxide, and shallow depth temperature and the directions of the curves in these maps correspond to the strikes of Demirçevre faults. The effect of the fault plays an important role in the change of carbon dioxide concentration along the W-E directional geological section prepared to determine the change of soil gas and shallow depth temperature values depending on lithological differences, fault existence, and geothermal reservoir depth. On the other hand, it was determined that Rn²²² concentration and soil temperature changed as a function of geothermal reservoir depth or lithological difference. Tuffs in Köprülü volcano-sedimentary units are the main source of radon due to their higher uranium contents. Besides, the carbon dioxide in Ömer–Gecek soils has geothermal origin because of the highest carbon dioxide content (99.3%) in non-condense gas. The similarities in patterns of soil temperature, radon, and carbon dioxide indicate that the variation in soil temperatures is related to radon and carbon dioxide emissions. It is concluded that soil gas and temperature measurements can be used to determine the active faults in the initial stage of geothermal exploration successfully.     

Investigation of the Kumdanlı and surrounding faults on the Eğirdir Lake by conducting ground penetrating radar (GPR) profiles

A ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey was performed on the E?irdir Lake to obtain the structural properties of Kumdanl? and surrounding faults. GPR data was collected along ten profiles in various directions by using 100–200-MHz GPR antennas. The radar sections showed that the Kumdanl? Fault, SW-NE in direction, and also some other neighboring NW-SE normal faults have played an active role in forming the E?irdir-Hoyran Lakes. The deformation and the geometry obtained from the results show that the Kumdanl? Fault is a sinistral strike-slip fault including oblique and segmented displacements. The other faults (Kemerdam? and Akkeçili) have mainly normal fault systems. Their trends are generally NW-SE in direction. It is also observed that they are younger than the Kumdanl? Fault system. These fault properties demonstrate the E?irdir Lake side has an extensional structure trending SW-NE.     

Automatic detection of earthquake-induced ground failure effects through Faster R-CNN deep learning-based object detection using satellite images

Natural Hazards - The seismically induced ground failure is defined as any earthquake-generated process that leads to deformations within a soil medium, which in turn results in permanent...